[World] Toy drive raises millions after NFL star’s collapse

Donations to a toy drive launched in 2020 by American football player Damar Hamlin have soared after he collapsed on the field during a game on Monday.

The toy drive had raised over $3.6m (£3m) by Tuesday morning.

Money from the initial drive went to toys for children in need in Hamlin’s hometown of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania.

Hamlin is in critical condition after suffering a cardiac arrest during the match.

The donations poured in as the fundraiser resurfaced after shocked National Football League (NFL) fans watched as Hamlin, 24, fell to the ground on Monday night – nine minutes into a match against the Cincinnati Bengals – following a hard collision with another player.

The NFL suspended the game for the night.

Over 140,000 people have donated to the fundraiser organised two years ago by Hamlin’s charity, the Chasing M Foundation, on the crowdfunding website GoFundMe in the hours since.

The drive has now raised more than a thousand times the charity’s initial campaign goal of $2,500.

The 2022 holiday season marked the third consecutive year Mr Hamlin ran the toy drive after starting it during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, according to his Instagram account.

In a post on 25 December, Hamlin called his 2022 toy drive a “success” and shared a video of him distributing the gifts to children.

The Buffalo Bills player said he decided to launch the toy charity drive because he was committed to “using my platform to positively impact the community that raised me”, according to the GoFundMe page.

The campaign gives people “the opportunity to contribute to our first initiative and positively impact children who have been hardest hit by the pandemic”, Hamlin wrote.

The GoFundMe received a boost in support from the fundraising site itself, which linked to it on Twitter on Monday night following the incident on the field.

The money raised will support his foundation, back to school drives, children’s camps and more, his marketing manager said on Twitter.

Hamlin is a second-year player who was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in 2021 after playing college football in his home state at the University of Pittsburgh.

After serving as a reserve player during his first year, Hamlin started all but two of Buffalo Bills games this season.