Several donors from every part of the world came together to help out in the search efforts for the missing runner Philip Kreycik.
As of Tuesday afternoon, about 900 donors have sent money and exceeded the $50, 000 target nearly a day following the GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign was established. About 1, 000 shares as well were also received by the fundraiser.
The fundraising effort was initiated by Kreycik’s former classmate at Harvard, Tom Wooten. The organizer noted that apart from the search efforts, the fund can help the missing runner’s expenses.
Wooten also wrote on the page that if the runner is found, the unspent money will be donated to the charity.
37-year-old Kreycik from Berkeley has a wife, Jen Yao, and two young children.
“We are so incredibly grateful of the extremely large amount of support we have gotten on the ground, from people walking the trails to people donating food, and helping with all aspects of our lives,” his wife told Wooten. She added that volunteers have helped Kreycik’s parents with their laundry as they were occupied in looking for their son.
Kreycik, an ultramarathon runner, disappeared hours after he ran in Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park last July 10 and did not return home, his wife said.
The runner’s phone, which was spotted in his car at the regional park’s Moller Ranch staging area, became essential in the search efforts due to the loop saved into the device.
The 50 square miles in the area of the loop he intended to take became the focus of the search by rescue personnel and hundreds of volunteers who went through challenging terrain. Search dogs, drones, as well as heat-detecting technology, were also deployed to help locate Kreycik, Patch reported.
“A hidden part [of helping] that I think people realize but it’s often less recognized, is that it makes this incredibly lonely journey feel less alone,” his wife told Wooten.
Official search operations were reduced on Thursday as the enormous efforts failed to find Kreycik.
