Is it a joke or is it legitimate? To Medicine Hat’s Josh Sehn, his online fundraising campaign is a bit of both.
“I’m going to use the money for legitimate causes,” he said.
A father of seven, Sehn established a GoFundMe page earlier this month, hoping to raise $70,000 to help his family. The initiative was inspired by a campaign earlier this year that saw just under $10,000 collected to help an injured pig in Ontario.
Listen: Drex finds the story behind the viral GoFundMe:
“I did find it a little funny about the little piglet, so I put a little play on it and set up a GoFundMe page. I thought: ‘If people could raise $10,000 for a piglet, they could support people.'”
At this time, $25 has been donated to the campaign, which has received significant attention on social media. However, Sehn’s family and friends aren’t taking it too seriously.
“Everybody’s kind of having a little bit of a chuckle.”
For Sehn, there is a serious element to this.
The state of Alberta’s economy, particularly the energy sector, has been problematic for southern Alberta, Medicine Hat and his business.
“I’ve lost some major contracts this year, from oil and gas customers in particular,” he said.
“Medicine Hat has been in trouble economically for a decade and Canada has been hurting for quite sometime too. I don’t see these problems getting any better in the near term.”
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