Remember Captain Tom Moore? Or should I say, Capt. SIR Tom Moore? Or should I say, Colonel Sir Tom Moore?
He’s the delightful then-99-year-old veteran who wanted to raise £1,000 for the U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS) by walking 100 laps in his garden before turning 100. Not only did he meet his fundraising goal, he smashed it to smithereens, raising more than £32.7 MILLION (USD ~$41.6 million) before his JustGiving campaign was finally retired.
Captain Moore rallied so much support for NHS Charities Together that Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave Queen Elizabeth II an exceptional recommendation to honor Moore with a knighthood, “in recognition of his extraordinary fundraising achievements, and as a signal of the kind of contributions we will want to mark in the months to come.”
Capt. Moore 
Frank Mills 
Joy Saunders 
Ethan Rankin 
Rudo Moyo 
Ottilie Bankes
Even though the 100-year-old’s fundraising campaign has ended, Moore’s spirit of generosity continues to inspire ordinary folks around the world to give back in extraordinary ways.
- This BBC News video features five U.K. residents, young and old, who have started their own walking campaigns to raise money for NHS charities.
- Five-year-old Tony Hudgell is learning to walk on his new prosthetic legs using crutches. He set a target to walk 10km, hoping to raise £500 for the Evelina Children’s Hospital in London. As of June 7, 2020, he has walked 2.8km and his campaign has raised over £300,000 from more than 15,000 donors.
- In St. Petersburg, Russia, 98-year-old veteran Zinaida Korneva has shared stories from her time serving in WWII, with a goal of raising 3,000,000 rubles to support Russian doctors affected by COVID-19. She also knitted socks for “Grandpa Tom”, to keep him warm.
- Four-year-old Ethan Rankin got his training wheels off his bicycle on April 4 and set a goal to cycle 100 miles to raise £100 for NHS Charities Together by his 5th birthday on May 18. He made it to 102 miles on May 17 and as of June 8, his campaign has raised more than £5,800.
- 12-year-old Ottilie Bankes raised £1,315 for the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity by walking 26 laps in her driveway. She has cerebral palsy and used the assistance of a walking device to walk the 6.5km, four laps at a time, as part of the 2.6 Challenge to save the U.K.’s charities.
- In Canada, 101-year-old Joy Saunders of Nova Scotia aims to walk 102 laps of her 0.8km walkway before her 102nd birthday in October. She is raising funds for the Victorian Order of Nurses and has raised more than $63,000 so far.
- 9-year-old Tobias Weller, who has cerebral palsy and autism, aimed to raise £500 for Sheffield Children’s Hospital and Paces School. His 26.2 mile walk/70-day challenge has raised more than £126,000 so far, earning him the nickname ‘Captain Tobias’.
- 59-year-old father Rudo Moyo has been blind since the age of 4 and set a goal of raising £1,000 in 10 days by walking 260 laps of his garden. He surpassed his goal, raising £1,460.13 for NHS, as part of the 2.6 Challenge.
- Six-year-old Frank Mills, who has spina bifida, set a fundraising goal of £99 for NHS Charities Together. He started walking 18 months ago and is now walking 10 meters a day with the help of a walker. Frank’s JustGiving campaign has surpassed £300,000—303,273% of his original goal.
- 100-year-old Dabirul Islam Choudhury started walking laps of his 80m garden on April 26 to raise money for the Ramadan Family Commitment Covid-19 crisis initiative to help families in the U.K. and Bangladesh. The Muslim man, who walked while fasting for the month of Ramadan, has raised more than £226,000 so far.