Mother-of-three, 31, whose tearful ‘cost-of-living plea’ outlining how her family struggled to pay bills went viral – and attracted a backlash from trolls – gives £2,251 of cash she raised to foodbanks to help others in need
- Hannah Harper, 31, went viral on TikTok after posting a ‘cost-of-living plea’ video
- The mother-of-three from Cambridgeshire was moved by many kind donations
- However, she also faced backlash from trolls, her community, and her own family
- Despite this, Hannah decided to donate £2,251 of the cash to help others in need
A woman who suffered a backlash from trolls – and family – after her ‘cost-of-living plea’ went viral has given £2,251 from cash raised to foodbanks and help those in need.
Mum-of-three Hannah Harper, 31, from Warboys, Cambridgeshire, went viral after posting an emotional TikTok video outlining the struggle her family faced during the ongoing cost of living crisis.
Hannah was in tears as she addressed the camera and explained she had to choose between gas and electricity.
She said: ‘I had to choose between gas, to make the house warm for myself, my husband and my children, or the electric, because I’m on pay-as-you-go meters.
Hannah Harper, 31, went viral on TikTok after posting an emotional TikTok video addressing the struggle her family faced as a result of the cost of living crisis. Pictured [Richard Harper, 33, Arabella, six, and William, 11]
The mom-of-three decided to donate to a local food bank as well as directly to local people to help with their bills after her GoFundMe was flooded with donations
‘So I had to get electric because I need electric to cook food.’
The video received thousands of likes and millions of views and her GoFundMe effort was overwhelmed with donations. Her page raised a staggering £5,587 – smashing her initial £100 target.
But although the video was for the most part well received, Hannah faced backlash from some people online, her own community – and even her own family.
Ms Harper, a barmaid, said: ‘So when my video went viral and the GoFundMe went nuts and the wish list.
‘I had a few family members that weren’t very nice at all. I got hate from them, claiming that I had shamed and embarrassed the family by what they thought was me begging for money from strangers.
Her video reached millions of people as her donation page raised a staggering £5,587 and surpassing her initial £100 target
Her video sadly received a large amount of backlash, but Ms Harper rose above the comments and took a charitable approach to her situation
‘They also claimed that they too were receiving hate supposedly for what I had done by going viral.’
She added: ‘Some of them have said worse, have spread lies about me, even had one claiming she was a good friend of mine and that she knew for a fact I was lying and making it up and that I was out getting drunk at a Christmas market with the donations.’
Inspired by others’ generosity and following the backlash, Hannah decided to donate to a local food bank as well as directly to local people to help with their bills.
In total, she spent £2,251 donating to local food banks and people in need.
Hannah recruited her husband Richard, 33, a production assistant, and two of her kids, William, 11, and Arabella, six, to help with their first foodbank haul.
They set off to the local Aldi supermarket in Huntingdon and loaded up two trolleys full of foodstuffs to be donated to the local Ramsey food bank amongst others.
They ended up spending £405 in the shop and took it home to be put into individual boxes ready for donation.
The 31-year-old spent £2,251 in her local Aldi, donating to local food banks and people in need
The mother-of-three said: ‘I had a list on my phone of things that local food banks are in desperate need of and that’s where we started.
‘We were going up and down aisles over and over again grabbing trays upon trays and boxes upon boxes of supplies and food to fill up our trollies with as much as possible.
‘We were inside Aldi I would say for nearly two hours and filled the two trollies to bursting, including the little shelf underneath the trolly.
‘We were literally having to balance stuff on top of the trolly.’
Ms Harper also went online and ordered 30 colouring books and pencils to add to the individual donations adding up to £336.
Ms Harper, along with her husband Richard, 33, and two of her kids, William, 11, and Arabella, six, took spent two hours in the shop stocking up on essentials and treats to donate
The next day the family went out to Tesco and donated even more goods to a Women’s Refuge.
On top of these donations, Hannah has been giving some of the donated money directly to people to help with their bills over winter.
She added: ‘I then went through my TikTok inbox and found some genuine people and families that desperately needed some help with getting gas, electric, food.’
Donations breakdown:
- Total: (£5,587)
- GoFundMe fees – minus £300 = (£5,287)
- Personal – £2,925 = (£2,362)
- Help for family members – £500 = (£1,862)
- TikTok giveaways – £1,000 = (£862)
- Women’s Refuge – £10 = (£852)
- Aldi shop – £405 = (£447)
- Colouring books – £336 = cash left (£11)
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