Fund for U.S. grandmother bullied on bus reaches $650,000

By Joseph O'Leary

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Donations to a fundraising website for a grandmother bullied by middle-school students on a bus reached $650,000 on Monday afternoon, a record for the website, after a video of the abuse topped 7 million views on YouTube.

Karen Klein, a 68-year-old bus monitor from Greece, New York, was bullied until she cried by Greece Middle School students in a video uploaded on YouTube on Wednesday.

Brian Klein, Karen's son, said the support the family has received has been overwhelming, and that the family was grateful for it.

The fund on indiegogo.com, originally intended to send Klein on a vacation, will take donations until July 20, after which she will get the money minus deductions by the company.

A representative from indiegogo.com said Klein's fundraiser is the fastest- and largest-grossing fundraiser in the website's history. Previously, the website's largest fund raised around $320,000.

Klein will receive 93 percent of the money donated to her. Four percent will go to indiegogo, and 3 percent will go toward credit card processing fees.

Aside from the money, Southwest Airlines has given Klein a three-night trip to Disneyland in California for her and her eight grandchildren.

She also has been given a free week-long vacation by the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort in Florida.

(Reporting By Joseph O'Leary; Editing by Greg McCune and Xavier Briand)