The GoFundMe for a homeless 8-year-old refugee, who rose to prominence by winning a New York state chess competition, has more than doubled its $50,000 goal. The objective is to find the youngster and his family a home.
The Nigerian boy's name is Tanitoluwa Adewumi and, as previously mentioned, he won a chess tournament for players in his age group earlier this month. This past Saturday the New York Times wrote an article that detailed how his family lived in a homeless shelter in Manhattan. Just a day before that Times story went up, the GoFundMe was established by Adewumi's chess teacher Russ Makofsky, with the aim to acquire $50,000 to "help Tani's family secure a home where he can continue on his journey."
At this point the fundraiser has squashed that original goal by bringing in $102,000 from more than 1,700 donors.
Tanitoluwa emigrated to the states from Nigeria with his family in 2017. Shortly after his arrival in New York he joined the chess club at his school. According to his GoFundMe page he's only been playing the game for a little more than a year.
His family has reportedly applied for asylum in the U.S. and will have an immigration hearing in August. Three months prior to that, Tanitoluwa is slated to compete at the National Elementary Championship in Nashville, Tennessee from May 10-12.
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