Ellis Hill had never traveled outside the U.S. before but now he’s in Rio getting to watch his son compete in the Olympics thanks to a chance encounter with a stranger.
The Pennsylvania cab driver was giving a ride to Liz Willock, who was so moved by his story that she set up a GoFundMe campaign to help send him to the Olympics to see his 23-year-old track and field star son Darrell compete. “It wasn’t in the cards at all,” Hill said in an interview with Upworthy. “I was thinking about getting a good bag of popcorn and sitting down to watch it on TV.”
The GoFundMe was a huge success with 152 donors raising $8,200, exceeding the original $7,500 goals. The project also got some outside help, including a United Airlines pilot, who donated miles to cover Hill’s flight.
Ellis said he never asked Willock to help – the pair has simply gotten into a conversation about his son was competing. Willock asked Hill if he’d attend if he had a ticket and the crowd funding idea took off from there, despite the two being strangers. Willock was also able to use her work connections; she works for a travel company, to help arrange the surprise trip.
“It’s going to be extremely awesome for me to experience this,” Hill told NBC10.