Dan Griffiths, who is known on Twitter as Ghost1227 and one of the creators of WP Tally, recently found himself in an emergency situation. Due to personal reasons, details of the situation have been withheld but it required Griffiths to come up with $2,500 within a 24 hour time span. Griffiths is a military Veteran who served in the Marines and received an honorable discharge.
He reached out to Happy Joe, an organization that helps veterans in need. Happy Joe founder, James Dalman, published an all points bulletin on Twitter asking for help from the WordPress community.
https://twitter.com/jamesdalman/status/549749712602300416
At least 22 people retweeted the call for help with several members of the WordPress community sending out custom tweets. I donated $20 to the campaign not only to thank Griffiths for his service, but to help him out in a dire time of need. Within two hours of the initial call for help, Griffiths reached his goal and added the following message to his personal donation page.
I can’t believe the response my call for help has received… For lack of a better word, I’m in shock. My sincerest thanks go out to the whole community for your unbelievable support. In a matter of an hour or two I received more than I ever thought possible… much from people whom I wasn’t even aware I had made an impression on. I am beyond humbled at the awesomeness of our community and can’t begin to express how much you all mean to me. Thanks again, and I hope we can continue to make WordPress, our community, and the Internet as a whole even better this coming year than the last!
This isn’t the first time the community has been generous to those in need. Near the end of 2013, the community rallied together to donate over $7,300 ($2,000 over the requested amount) to help Justin Tadlock buy a house.
I can’t imagine the overwhelming sense of happiness Griffiths must be feeling. The fact that several of the donations came from people he doesn’t know is another indication of just how awesome and generous the WordPress community is to those who need it most.
This is something new to me, but, I really like how we are growing. WordPress community is mature, powerful, and extraordinary. In these moments, one can feel proud of being a part. Cheers to you, Jeff.