While some are avoiding travel to Rio over fear of Zika infection, others simply can’t make it due to the financial strain the long trip to Brazil poses.
This strain was going to prevent one father, Ellis Hill, from seeing his son Darrell compete as part of Team USA’s shot put Team.
According to a recent story in PEOPLE, that all changed when Hill, a part time Uber driver, picked up passenger Liz Willock. After an hour long drive though Pennsylvania, Hill eventually told Willock about his son’s forthcoming competition.
“When I told her about my son she was really amazed, but when she asked me if I was going over there to watch him, I said I really couldn’t afford it,” Hill told PEOPLE.
Willock, a sales leader for a concierge company, decided she had the resources necessary to bring the father and son together.
After their trip, Willock created a GoFundMe on Hill’s behalf with the goal of raising $7,500 to fund the trip.
That was on July 28. Two days later, the page had over half the donation goal reached. It’s been a week since the page was created, and the goal has been surpassed by $700 from 152 donations.
“I was ecstatic,” Hill told PEOPLE. “I feel really grateful and overcome by the knowledge that there are good people out there.”
The athlete was also touched by the generosity of strangers and tweeted out his thanks.
“There has been so much sadness and violence in the news lately and this really restored my faith in humanity,” Willock told People. “We had over 150 people contribute and I think Ellis knew maybe 10 of them. The rest were strangers.”
The women’s shot put team is scheduled for competition on Aug. 12 while Hill and the rest of Team USA will compete on Thursday, Aug. 18.