Aurelien Collin and a few of his New York Red Bulls teammates came through with huge assist for one of their biggest supporters this week.
Collin was tipped off on Twitter on Tuesday by the Viking Army Supporters Club about Kevin Mota, a 21-year-old Red Bulls season ticket holder who uses a motorized wheelchair. Mota created a GoFundme page in May to raise funds for a new wheelchair to replace the five-year-old model he had been using, but had been having a hard time raising the $5,000 needed to purchase a new chair.
Seeing an opportunity to help out, Collin sent a message to several of his teammates about Mota. The Red Bulls responded in a huge way, with Collin, Bradley Wright-Phillips, Sacha Kljestan, Luis Robles, Felipe, Tyler Adams, Daniel Royer, Damien Perrinelle, Sal Zizzo and Derrick Etienne, Jr. among the first-teamers who donated. As of Friday morning, over $9,700 had been raised for the fund.
According to Metro, Mota has already purchased a new chair, changing the color scheme to red in honor of the Red Bulls.
Mota sent out a thank you message to all those who donated on Twitter on Wednesday.
The Red Bulls will host crosstown rivals New York City FC in the final New York derby of the 2017 regular season on Friday night (7 pm ET; ESPN in the US | TSN 5 in Canada).
