Press release: By the power of Twitter - Surrey charity trekker gets a boost from famous comedian namesake
17 August 2012
When Surrey resident, Richard Herring (36), set up an online giving page for a charity trek he’s taking part in next year, he had no idea his donations would rocket from £to over £2,700- overnight!
But he hadn’t anticipated the power of Twitter and a boost from famous comedian, Richard Herring, who shared the fundraising page with his 97 000 followers, tweeting:
“This isn’t me, but wouldn’t it be cool if you pretended it was and all sponsored him anyway? Go on.”
Over 370 generous strangers responded straight away, significantly boosting the total. Richard, a finance manager from Thames Ditton said:
“I’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity of the other Richard and his followers –I’ve had my fair share of jokes about living a double-life as a famous stand-up comedian but never imagined sharing a name would help my fundraising for Sense, the deafblind charity, in this way!
I decided to take part in the trek after learning about the work that Sense does supporting deafblind adults and children and have managed to rope my wife and a couple of friends into the challenge as well. They are now all wishing they were called Stephen Fry!”
Richard is just shy of his £3,000 target for Sense. If you would like to show your support for him, and the rest of his team, please visit: http://www.justgiving.com/teams/Machu-Picchu-Trek