Dustin Leigh has learned the power of community goes far beyond the city he grew up in.
The Barrie man was behind a GoFundMe page that raised $300,000 for longtime friend Mitch Islam and his infant son, Charlie, after the tragic death of wife and mother Alexandra Paul last August.
The 31-year-old lawyer and former Olympian was killed in a seven-vehicle pile-up in Melancthon Township Aug. 21. The couple’s young son suffered a broken leg in the crash.
Leigh grew up with Islam, having been part of one another’s lives since he was only a few weeks old. Leigh’s parents are former owners of Mariposa School of Skating, where Islam and Paul skated together during their ice dancing career.
“When this happened, a lot of people reached out to me looking to help, but felt helpless. We received enough phone calls from people asking how to help that we thought we’d create an avenue to be able to help,” he said, noting he’d initially set a goal of $40,000.
That goal was far exceeded, which Leigh admits blew him away.
“I know (Mitch) was as well. I am not a figure skater, but I have been surrounded by that group of people and even though it’s all around the world, it’s still a pretty tight-knit group. We knew they’d be getting support from all over the world, but it was cool to see at what level and how much.”
Leigh said he set the fundraising goal at $40,000 in the hopes it would give his friend enough financial support so he wouldn’t need to worry about taking the time off work he and his son needed following Paul’s death, as well as to help support Charlie’s education in the future.
Leigh said one of the initial thoughts when deciding whether or not to create the online fundraiser was although people want to give support, offering money can sort of feel “kind of shallow.”
Instead, he opted to look at it from a different perspective: that money is just the storage of people’s time.
“Most people trade their time for money, so when you give $100 that’s equivalent to giving three hours of your time,” he said. “That’s a lot of people giving their time and support, and I think it’s backed up because it allowed him to take some time off that he wouldn’t have been able to get off … and process things … if people didn’t donate their time.”
It allowed Islam to figure out a way to move forward without feeling the pressure of not being able to cover his bills, said Leigh.
“That’s a tough spot to be in, and then the community came around and essentially said, 'Don’t worry about it'.”
Without the online platform, there would have been a lot of phone calls and door knocking to try to get the kind of financial support this fundraiser received, he acknowledged.
“You’re driving around with an envelope … it would have never gotten to that number,” he said. “(With this) you can send (money) from anywhere in the world, and it’s a bit of a revolution on the support front. It was an interesting experience, because alternatively I am driving around Ontario and ending up nowhere near that.”
Funds continued to roll in from around the world immediately following Paul’s death, but ultimately “cooled off” in the months that followed, he said, adding the final donation — number 1,871 — was made in the exact amount that saw the fundraiser hit $300,000.
“That was the perfect way to end it,” he said, adding while the ability to donate has been turned off, he has decided to keep the page online to one day be able to look back and show Charlie all the love and support his family received.
“It wasn’t just the money. Look at all these stories and all the things these people who stepped up and loved your mom. The platform shows you all of the names of the people who supported you and all of the messages given.”
Islam is now back on the ice coaching, said Leigh, and is grateful for the enormous support his local community — and people from all over the world — showed him and his son, shared Leigh.
“People take a lot of weight on their shoulders when something negative happens to them, especially when it’s unexpected," said Leigh. "Although no one can repair that, it was cool to see the community — both local and the figure skating community, which is international — it’s cool to see the level of support that people gave for our friend,” he said. “It’s the best you can do under shitty circumstances.”
