Yesterday, a Catholic-school-attending atheist teenager named Daniel was highlighted here. Daniel wanted to beat his school in a charity fundraiser, only he wanted to benefit a secular charity instead of the Church. According to Responsible Charity, within 48 hours of Daniel creating the Facebook fundraiser page, $4,925.27 has been donated from 497 people in 19 countries around the world.

This is incredible! The vision of this young teenager to create a worthwhile fundraiser out of a situation that hurt, saddened, and angered him is a testament to the power of knowledge. At that age, I hadn’t examined my faith enough to even stand for a belief, let alone create anything remotely thoughtful in the face of adversity.

As a little bit more background for those who have to kindly donated and to anyone still deciding, allow me to share a few beautiful pictures and quotes from Hemley Gonzalez, who began the organization:

It was during my sabbatical in India that I uncovered a scandal inside the charity founded by Mother Teresa (The Missionaries of Charity) involving serious medical negligence and financial fraud. I began to document and report all that I had witnessed on facebook (http://www.facebook.com/missionariesofcharity) and soon after Forbes-India contacted me for an interview. The experience of volunteering within an organization marked by egregious fraud inspired me to create a better way to help people overcome poverty and lead a healthy and happy life. Thus Responsible Charity, Corp. was born: http://www.responsiblecharity.org/

Visit Hemley’s site for more info, photos, and his hilarious $#!+ Atheists Say video!

Thank you to everyone who donated, shared, and supported Daniel’s vision for Responsible Charity. It’s great to be a member of a community that so often seizes the opportunity to show what it’s made of.

*** Update*** From Responsible Charity: