Supporters donate to "vacation" fund for Greece bus monitor

Posted at: 06/20/2012 10:53 PM | Updated at: 06/20/2012 11:33 PM
By: Lynette Adams | WHEC.com

Karen Klein woke up this morning thankful school is out and thinking it would be a typical day.

“It's almost like I'm in a dream or nightmare, let's put it that way.”

But in a matter of hours, her life changed -- all because of a video posted online.

The video on YouTube includes kids on a bus calling Klein a "troll", threatening to deface her property – and asking her why there is “water” on her crying face.

Klein is a 23 year veteran bus driver and now bus monitor. The videos capture what happened Monday on her last day of school.

Someone put the video on YouTube Tuesday night following others soon after. Just hours later -- it went viral. Greece school officials woke up to *dozens* of phone calls and emails about it this morning. The video had more than 430-thousand views by news time.

People in Rochester and worldwide are responding to the video. It's Klein's calm manner that has touched hearts. Flowers have been coming all day, some from people she doesn't even know.

“It's scary getting all this attention,” Klein says.

Someone from Toronto saw it and set up an online fundraiser to send Karen on a vacation. Just Wednesday it raised tens of thousands of dollars and increasing. The CEO and founder of the website says this is one of the fastest campaigns it has handled and it's accomplishing a few things.

“I can only imagine what it will be like for her...but at the end of the day what is even better than her vacation or her salary is the fact that all these people are galvanizing to talk about the issue. So at the end of the day it's having a broader impact,” says Slava Rubin.

The money will be a huge blessing for Klein who at 68 years old would love to go on a cruise, but says that she might just retire.

“People care and you don't think that they would,” Klein tells us after our own Lynette Adams asked her what all the gifts and mementos meant to her.

Klein hopes the students are disciplined but she also hopes parents learn a lesson:

“Check on your kids, see what they're doing out there when you're not around.”

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