A fundraising target for a vital bit of equipment has been reached in less than 48 hours.
People from the Weymouth and Portland Marine Litter Project recently issued a call for help after the motor on their electric cargo bike failed.
The bike is used by the volunteers to transport beach waste they collect plus equipment along with ‘tonnes of recycling’ around Weymouth and Portland.
A GoFundMe was set up on Saturday (July 20) and the full £500 donation target had been reached in less than two days.
Dave Taylor of Weymouth and Portland Marine Litter Project said: “I was not expecting that, I got quite emotional really.
“I hate asking people for money and I didn’t think that anyone would donate, but it was a friend that actually suggested that I start a fundraiser and told me ‘you have got nothing to lose.’”
After he set up the fundraising page, Mr Taylor took his dogs for a walk and when he returned home, he was overwhelmed to see that the page had already received £300 in donations.
He added: “There were people on there donating £100, I had never even met them. For people to go out of their way and donate to something that isn’t going to directly benefit them is amazing.
“The bike is a game changer – when I cycle round the harbour, I can chuck the stuff from the crab bins in there and go, plus it’s more environmentally friendly than a car. I use it every day.”
The money raised will go towards a brand-new motor for the bike.
Mr Taylor added: “The bikes are around £6,000 new. I bought it second hand out of my savings, and it lasted a year. Hopefully with a new motor it will last a lifetime.
“Not having the bike has been really inconvenient. Without it we would have been lost.”
Both Mr Taylor and Jane Fuhrmann who front the community project have issued a huge thank you to those who have supported them ‘from the bottom of their hearts,’ adding that they were ‘lost for words.’
For more information, visit the GoFundMe page here: https://tinyurl.com/222yzsu6.
At the time of writing, the fundraiser has raised £525.
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