A woman who suffered a backlash from trolls - and family - after her 'cost-of-living plea' went viral has given £2,251 from cash raised to foodbanks and help those in need.
Mum-of-three Hannah Harper, 31, posted an emotional TikTok video outlining the struggle her family faced during the cost of living crisis.
Hannah was in tears as she addressed the camera and explained she had to choose between gas and electricity.
She revealed: "I had to choose between gas, to make the house warm for myself, my husband and my children, or the electric, because I'm on pay-as-you-go meters.
"So I had to get electric because I need electric to cook food."
The video went viral with thousands of likes and millions of views and her GoFundMe effort was inundated with donations.
Hannah's GoFundMe page raised a staggering £5,587, smashing her initial £100 target.
But although the video was mainly well received, Hannah faced backlash from some people online, her own community - and even her own family.
Hannah, a barmaid, from Warboys, Cambridgeshire, said: "So when my video went viral and the GoFundMe went nuts and the wish list.
"I had a few family members that weren’t very nice at all.
"I got hate from them, claiming that I had shamed and embarrassed the family by what they thought was me begging for money from strangers.
"They also claimed that they too were receiving hate supposedly for what I had done by going viral.
"People who I thought were my friends have also said the same things.
"Some of them have said worse, have spread lies about me, even had one claiming she was a good friend of mine and that she knew for a fact I was lying and making it up and that I was out getting drunk at a Christmas market with the donations."
Inspired by others' generosity and following the backlash, Hannah decided to donate to a local food bank as well as directly to local people to help with their bills.
In total, she spent £2,251 donating to local food banks and people in need.
Hannah recruited her husband Richard, 33, a production assistant, and two of her kids, William, 11, and Arabella, six, to help with their first foodbank haul.
They set off to the local Aldi supermarket in Huntingdon and loaded up two trolleys full of foodstuffs to be donated to the local Ramsey food bank amongst others.
They ended up spending £405 in the shop and took it home to be put into individual boxes ready for donation.
Hannah said: "I had a list on my phone of things that local food banks are in desperate need of and that’s where we started.
"We were going up and down aisles over and over again grabbing trays upon trays and boxes upon boxes of supplies and food to fill up our trollies with as much as possible.
"I had decided to not just stick to the lists but to also grab loads of treats also, so we also picked up selection boxes, large chocolate Santas, boxes of Christmas biscuits etc.
"We were inside Aldi I would say for nearly two hours and filled the two trollies to bursting, including the little shelf underneath the trolly.
"We were literally having to balance stuff on top of the trolly."
Hannah also went online and ordered 30 colouring books and pencils to add to the individual donations adding up to £336.
The next day the family went out to Tesco and donated even more goods to a Women's Refuge.
On top of these donations, Hannah has been giving some of the donated money directly to people to help with their bills over winter.
She added: "I then went through my TikTok inbox and found some genuine people and families that desperately needed some help with getting gas, electric, food."
Donations breakdown:
Total: (£5,587)
GoFundMe fees - minus £300 = (£5,287)
Personal - £2,925 = (£2,362)
Help for family members - £500 = (£1,862)
TikTok giveaways - £1,000 = (£862)
Women's Refuge - £10 = (£852)
Aldi shop - £405 = (£447)
Colouring books - £336 = cash left (£11)
