Humboldt Broncos fundraiser generates more than $12 million after fatal bus crash

A campaign to raise money for the victims of a fatal bus crash involving a junior hockey team bus closed Wednesday night after becoming the second-most successful fundraiser in GoFundMe history.

Roughly $12 million (or $15 million in Canadian dollars) was raised in 12 days for the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team, whose bus collided with a semitruck on April 6 in an accident that killed 15 people — including players, coaches and a broadcaster — and injured 13 others.

That amount is second only to the more than $21 million raised by the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund and surpasses the $11.8 million raised for victims of the Las Vegas shooting, according to information provided to CNN by a representative for GoFundMe.

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“The Broncos’ volunteer board of directors would like to express their tremendous love and sincere gratitude to everyone who has generously donated time and money to support our organization and its families, as we navigate through this dark and heart-wrenching time,” the organization stated in the most recent update to the campaign’s GoFundMe page.

It added: “The Broncos have been humbled, and our spirits buoyed, by the staggering number of individuals and groups wanting to make donations or holding fundraisers to support our organization outside of our GoFundMe, as we deal with this unprecedented crisis.”

The team has formed the HumboldtStrong Community Foundation to accommodate the donations and “to support Humboldt Broncos’ players, employees, families, and volunteers, as well as first responders and emergency services personnel, teams, athletes, related organizations and communities affected by the crash of the Humboldt Broncos team bus on April 6, 2018, and the aftermath thereof,” according to a note on the GoFundMe page.

charles.schilken@latimes.com

Twitter: @chewkiii