An online fundraiser for the actor who played Officer Clemmons on the iconic children’s show “Mister Roger’s Neighborhood” has reached its goal of $100,000, thanks in part to The New York Post.
“WE DID IT! Thanks to a donation this afternoon… we reached our goal of $100,000,” wrote the Friends of Officer Clemmons group on GoFundMe. “Over the last 10 weeks we have received generous donations from 600 caring people like you to reach our goal of $100,000.
“…And we are enormously grateful for last week’s sensitive and candid NY Post article about our fundraiser. That article nearly doubled donations to our GFM site and allowed us to raise $20,000 in just eight days,” the fundraisers noted.
“But we’re not done yet: we still need to raise $2,900 to cover the 2.9% GFM transaction fees deducted from all donations. And we can always exceed our original goal!” they added.
Singer and actor Francois Clemmons, best known for breaking racial barriers in his role on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” has been struggling to make ends meet amid health problems and limited income.
Clemmons and Rogers recreated their iconic moment by dipping their feet into a kiddie pool on a hot day. Courtesy of the Everett Collection Clemmons appeared on the legendary children’s show as Officer Clemmons in the 1960s. Courtesy of friends of Officer Clemmons
Clemmons, 78, suffered two strokes in 2015 and 2016, two knee replacement surgeries and needs a physician’s assistant along with other services at his Vermont assisted living facility.
The fundraiser was launched in the fall and included a $5,000 donation from Clemmons’ Oberlin College classmates, Ted and Molly Raphael.
“There is a New Year’s miracle in the making,” Chuck Dickinson, another Oberlin classmate who led the campaign, told The Post of reaching the $100,000 mark.
Francois Clemmons, seen here in 2021, has suffered two strokes. fake images
Clemmons, who played a singing cop on the PBS series from 1968 to 1993, was one of the first African Americans to have a starring role on national children’s television.
The Birmingham, Alabama, native lived at West 101 Street and Central Park West for 35 years and created the Harlem Spiritual Ensemble. He first met Fred Rogers through Roger’s wife, Joanne, who was with him in a church choir in Pittsburgh.
A May 1969 episode showed the black Clemmons and the white Rogers dipping their feet in a kiddie pool at the same time on a hot day and sharing a towel to dry off, sending a quiet but powerful message about equality in a time when where segregated pools were the norm.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn