Irish YouTuber Raises Nearly $660K for COVID-19 Relief with 12-Hour Livestream
In total, the #HopeFromHome livestream raised $1.7 million towards COVID-19 relief on Tuesday
Irish YouTuber Seán McLoughlin is making a big contribution towards coronavirus (COVID-19) relief efforts.
McLoughlin, whose known on YouTube as Jacksepticeye and has over 23.6M subscribers, was the main organizer of the #HopeFromHome livestream, collecting funds for the World Health Organization, United Way Worldwide and Comic Relief.
The live stream brought together entertainers, influencers, and gamers across multiple social media platforms including YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and Twitter.
McLoughlin’s near 12-hour livestream on Tuesday, timed for World Health Day, raised almost $659,000. In total, participants in the digital fundraiser brought in more than $1.7 million for the three charities. Donations were facilitated by fundraising platform Tiltify.
“Words can’t express how crazy today was,” McLoughlin wrote in an Instagram post after his stream. “We ended the stream at $658,730.57.”
“I am so emotionally overwhelmed but I have nothing but love and gratitude to all of those who donated and made such a huge difference today,” he added. “I love you all, thank you! ♥️.”
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The three participating charities confirmed to CNN that the funds will go towards financial and social services to assist vulnerable populations during the global pandemic.
The UN Foundation said some of its funds will go to the World Health Organization (WHO) to help develop a vaccine for COVID-19.
McLoughlin said in an interview with CNN Wednesday that he reached out to “as many creators as I could” to organize the online fundraiser.
“I felt like more money could be raised if we mobilized everybody and all of their communities and all of their audiences and kind of band together under one banner,” McLoughlin said. “And then everyone could do their own small streams within that.”
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McLoughlin also shared that donations will continue to be accepted until May 1, with the hope of breaking the $2 million mark. (Donate here)
Worldwide, there are now 1,502,618 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 89,915 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins.
As information about the coronavirus pandemic rapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from CDC, WHO, and local public health departments. To help provide doctors and nurses on the front lines with life-saving medical resources, donate to Direct Relief here.