Crowdfunding campaigns to aid the surviving victim and grieving families of two men killed in a stabbing attack in Portland, Oregon on 26 May 2017 have so far accumulated more than $1 million in only four days, according to the running totals shown on the GoFundMe and LaunchGood web sites.
The three men, Micah David-Cole Fletcher, 21, Rick John Best, 53, and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche, 23, were stabbed when they tried to intervene on behalf of two teenage girls being verbally assaulted by a fourth man, Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35, on a light-rail train in northeast Portland.
The girls, one of whom wore a hijab, told local news outlets that Christian shouted racial slurs at them. They escaped, unhurt, after Christian pulled out a knife and began attacking the three good Samaritans. Only Fletcher, who is recovering from knife wounds to his neck, survived. Hate group watchdog the Southern Poverty Law Center has reported that there is online evidence linking Christian to "racist and other extremist beliefs."
At least four crowdfunding campaigns sprang up the day after the attacks.
- Tri-Met Heroes (via GoFundMe), launched by Portland restaurateur Nick Zukin, has amassed donations totaling more than $500,000 to support the families of Best and Namkai-Meche.
- Tri-Met Hero Recovery (via GoFundMe), which is close to exceeding its goal of $250,000, was started by friends of survivor Micah Fletcher.
- The more than $500,000 raised by the LaunchGood campaign Muslims Unite for Portland Heroes, organized by the Muslim Education Trust and CelebrateMercy (both Islamic groups), is intended primarily to benefit the victims' families.
- Girls Who Survived Portland's MAX Attack (via YouCaring) has so far raised more than $40,000 on behalf of the two young women on whom the attacker's racial hatred was focused.
As of 31 May 2017, all of the above were still active and accepting donations.
Similar campaigns were launched after the 22 March 2017 terrorist attack on London's Westminster Bridge, in which four were killed and 50 injured, and the 22 May Manchester Arena terrorist bombing, in which 23 were killed and 110 injured.