After a whirlwind week in which nine-year-old Quaden Bayles garnered global headlines, celebrity support and hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations, his family has declined a crowdfunded trip to Disneyland, asking instead for the sum to be divided between selected charities.
Quaden was born with achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism, and his story went viral last week when his mother, Yarraka Bayles, shared a video of her sons heartbreaking response to being bullied at school in Brisbane, Australia.
US comedian Brad Williams was moved to establish a GoFundMe campaign for Quaden to raise $10,000 to send a wonderful kid to Disneyland. The fund eventually received more than $474,000 in donations.
Now, a week after livestreaming the video to Facebook in a bid to call attention to the effects of bullying, Quadens family has decided the full sum should go to community organisations.
Quadens mom has been a vocal advocate for Indigenous issues and disability awareness, and the family has earmarked two organisations Dwarfism Awareness Australia and Balunu Healing Foundation, a nonprofit that works with Indigenous youth as groups theyd like to see benefit from the crowdfunding.