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A crowdfunding campaign to help an ex-Gurkha whose family car was torched in hate-crime arson has smashed its fundraising target.
The JustGiving page was set up after the Ford Focus belonging to the former serviceman was destroyed in Elmstone Lane, Maidstone, last week in an arson attack Kent Police is treating as a hate crime.
Steve Howard, who lives not far from the victim Ram Kumar Limbu and his family in Barming, set up the campaign to raise money for the family shortly after reading about the incident on KentOnline.
Initially he aimed to raise £500, but donations have poured in and now more than £1,000 has been amassed.
The 52-year-old, who is a manager at Maidstone Honda motorcycle dealership, was moved to act when he thought about all Mr Limbu and his family had given to this country through service in the armed forces and the NHS.
He said: "Barming has got quite a nice community spirit going on. I was probably one of the first to comment on it on our community Facebook page, but it soon became clear there was a wider feeling that it is a horrendous thing to happen in our community.
"The chap whose car it was has served our country and his family are giving service to our community in the NHS, so it's time to give something back. The response has been fantastic, it's been really humbling.
"It has made me think that people really do care. We know the people responsible for what happened are in the minority, but this has brought it home that there's a feeling we should not let this go unnoticed in our community."
Mr Howard says he has spoken to Mr Limbu about the fundraising effort, and will arrange for the money to reach him once the total is known.
Speaking on behalf of the entire family, Mr Limbu's niece Angela has told of their gratitude at the outpouring of support from the community and the messages of goodwill which they have received.
She said: "When this incident happened, we simply wanted to raise awareness and prevent any event like this happening again. However we were incredibly surprised and mostly overwhelmed with how many positive comments, reassurances and offers to help we received.
"The community has gone above and beyond to help us and when we heard about the funding that was raised for us, we were left speechless. Thank you to our community for showing and reassuring us that we are in a safe neighbourhood and that, despite of the awful event, we know that there will always be kind and respectful people out there."
Mr Limbu was victim of one of two suspicious fires which affected the Nepalese community in the town last week, both of which are being investigated as hate crimes. The UK Nepal Friendship Society has since written to Kent Police and senior politicians calling for more to be done to root out anti-Asian sentiment in our communities.
