The world’s most popular youtuber, MrBeast helped “1,000 Blind People See For The First Time”. He posted a video on January 28, which got almost 60 million views in 3 days, where he pays for the cataract surgery of 1,000 patients.
“More than half of the blindness in the world is caused by cataracts; a 10-minute surgery, at a material cost of less than $100 in resource-poor places, cures it forever,” said Dr. Jeff Levenson, the surgeon who worked with MrBeast, cited by People. According to American Academy of Ophthalmology, cataracts affect more than 24.4 million Americans age 40 and older and by the age 75, approximately half of all Americans have cataracts.
In order to reach those 1,000 people who needed the surgery but couldn’t afford it, MrBeast, real name Jimmy Donaldson, contacted homeless shelters, free clinics and a non-profit organization, SEE International, “that seeks to provide eyecare services to anyone in need.” Thus, they were able to provide surgeries in Florida as well as in Jamaica, Honduras, Namibia, Mexico, Indonesia, and Brazil. “If MrBeast can light a fire, and if we can get governmental and private support behind it, we can end half of all the blindness in the world,” said Dr. Levenson.
Even though this is not the first time MrBeast is involved in charity projects, as generosity and philanthropy became his trademarks, he received a lot of criticism for the video, especially on Twitter. Some users argue he just did it for the views, as a way to gain online influence and produce popular content. The 24-years-old influencer took it to Twitter to defeat his video, posting: “Twitter – Rich people should help others with their money. Me – Okay, I’ll use my money to help people and I promise to give away all my money before I die. Every single penny. Twitter – MrBeast bad.”
Source: insider.com
