This college student is trying to raise $50,000 after her fundraising tweet got way out of hand

A college student is hoping to raise $50,000 (£38,000) for a children’s hospital after her Twitter post promising $0.50 for every retweet went viral.

Danni Messina promised give the money to St Jude’s Children’s Hospital, Memphis, but soon found her tweet taking off more than she thought.

“This time of year is about giving,” she tweeted. “This year, I am giving back to St. Jude & the families who are supported by their amazing services every favourite : $.25. every retweet : $.50 go give. go st. Jude!!”

After receiving thousands of retweets and favourites, she wrote: “ha wowza ok – so we are stopping it here.”

One user calculated the total to be at $42,000 shortly after, and one added: “Either she rich af or she ain’t expect this to happen.”

“Didn’t expect it to happen hahaha,” she wrote in reply.

Messina is now attempting to raise the money through her own contributions and a fundraising page.

“It started with a friend. He was telling me about his thanksgiving, and how he was spending time with his grandma who was in the hospital,” she wrote on GoFundMe.

“It made me start thinking about the children who were spending their holidays in the hospital, and how it really was a reality for others.

“Then I tweeted about it. I tweeted because I had absolutely no idea there would be that much support around the idea.

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“So, unfortunately, I don’t have the funds to support this, but here is a link to donate to one of the best hospitals there is. St Jude is changing lives. This is where we start.”

Twitter users then started chipping in, with one writing: “Instead of putting this girl out like a hundred thousand bucks we should all just donate the 50 cents or a dollar to exceed the goal hahaha”

However, some users weren’t impressed that she went back on her “promise”.

“Uggh… we from an older generation have a saying.. so you wrote a check you can’t cash did ya? It is a shame.. St Jude is a great cause! Too bad you decided to make a commitment that you can’t honour,” wrote one user.

But other users were quick to jump to her defence.

One said: “At the end of the day, who cares where the money comes from ? You’re missing the big picture. Stop hating. she probably didn’t know it was gonna get this big. It’s better than not doing on at all. Go donate then.”

The hospital costs about $2.4 million a day to run. There is no cost to be treated.

At the time of writing, $6,390 of a $50,000 goal has been raised.