GREECE, N.Y.—An American school bus monitor who was verbally abused and tormented by students can retire now, thanks to the kindness of strangers.

A video showing Karen Klein, 68, being tormented and insulted on the bus ended up online and caught the eye of Max Sidirov of Toronto. He launched a fundraising drive on Indiegogo.com to pay for a holiday.

Sidirov, 25, set the initial fundraising target for $5,000, but by the time his campaign wrapped up Friday night donors had kicked in $703,873. “I still don’t know how that happened,” he said.

Last month Sidirov said the campaign might be able to give Klein an early retirement, and this weekend she confirmed she will not be returning to work in the fall.

“I have to go do all my paperwork so I don’t have to work anymore, so I can retire,” said Klein.

In the meantime, she’s thinking of what else she’ll do with the money.

“I want to save some, I want to invest in some things to make it grow, and donate to a couple of groups that I have in mind,” she said in a phone call from her home in Rochester, N.Y.

Klein has a granddaughter who has Down syndrome and a grandson with autism, and is considering donating to organizations that work with special needs kids.

She would like to be able to thank everyone personally for their support, but with numbers climbing into the thousands it’s just not possible. “Hopefully everybody out there knows how much I appreciate everything,” she said.

Klein is also thinking about where she’ll go on vacation.

“I’ve been to Hawaii, I loved Hawaii,” she said.

She’s looking forward to a trip to see Tim McGraw in concert. The country singer wanted to meet with Klein but she wasn’t able to make it. His staff sent Klein his itinerary and told her to pick a city. “I picked New Orleans because I’ve never been down there,” she said.

The invitations have continued to pour in, and Klein has a packed itinerary for August.

“This is really unbelievable that people really want me to go and talk or see people,” said Klein. “It makes me feel good.”

Sidirov has travelled to New York several times to visit Klein and her family.

“We chat on the phone, we send each other texts. We’re good friends now,” he said. “I just hope that the money makes her happy. It really warms my heart to know that there are so many great people out there.”

He is pleased with how the campaign has been able to raise awareness about bullying.

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“A lot more people are starting to stand up for anti-bullying and anti-violence so it’s great that this happened because a lot more people now can get helped.”

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Fundraiser for bullied bus monitor nets $700,000