Brit Expats In Spain Rush To Donate To WWII Veteran’s NHS Appeal

A British WWII veteran’s NHS appeal has crashed a Costa del Sol expat newspaper’s website and raised 10 million pounds to date.

Brit expats living in the Spanish Costas crashed a popular online newspaper’s website during a rush to donate to his NHS charity appeal. Captain Tom Moore, a 99-year-old WWII veteran, had set out to raise money for the NHS by promising to walk 100 lengths of his 25 metre garden by the time of his 100th birthday on the 30th of this month. Using the Just Giving website, he’d aimed to raise £1,000 for the NHS in thanks for his successful hip operation, but his target was smashed within just a few days and now stands at an astonishing 10 million pounds.

Once the expat communities in Spain’s Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca regions caught onto the site, donations soared to the extent that the English language online newspaper Euro Weekly News’s website crashed due to the huge numbers of generous expats wishing to donate and asking for more details. His appeal has now gone viral and has been picked up by the BBC and ITV channels, and the UK Health Secretary singled him out for grateful thanks during last Wednesday’s evening press conference.

Sports personalities as well as NHS employees and other politicians have all sent messages of heartfelt thanks and, in an interview on ITV, the Captain said the country has fought and won so many battles, adding it’ll win this one as well. According to his daughter, he’s become a ‘beacon of hope during these challenging times’, adding the massive donations were simply beyond words. At the time of writing, donations are still coming in from British expats overseas as well as from citizens struggling with the effects of the pandemic.