Brandon Stanton - the widely popular NYC photography blogger of "Humans of New York" (HONY) - has just raised over $400,000 for the benefit of inner-city children.

 According to the New York Post, this past Thursday Stanton launched a fundraising campaign to help send a group of underprivileged students from Mott Hall Bridges Academy in Brownsville on a trip to see Harvard University. His goal was to help Principal Lopez send her sixth graders on yearly trips to the school.

Mashable reports that the campaign's initial goal was to raise $100,000 by February 5^th, which would have been enough to fund the program for three years. It was shattered within hours of its launch.

The fundraiser started when Stanton met and photographed a young boy who attends the Academy. He said of his principal, "When we get in trouble, she doesn't suspend us. She calls us to her office and explains to us how society was built down around us. And she tells us that each time somebody fails out of school, a new jail cell gets built. And one time she made every student stand up, one at a time, and she told each one of us that we matter."

Stanton also interviewed Principal Lopez, who spoke highly of her students. She stated, "I want my scholars to know that even if they live in a housing project, they are part of a royal lineage going back to great African kings and queens. They belong to a group of individuals who invented astronomy and math...

And they belong to a group of individuals who have endured so much history and still overcome. When you tell people you're from Brownsville, their face cringes up. But there are children here that need to know that they are expected to succeed."

Stanton was moved by the statement, and responded by sharing a link to the fundraiser's IndieGoGo page on Facebook. The HONY Facebook page has more than 11 million followers, and soon enough donations came rolling in. They were generally between $1 and $25, and the amount quickly ballooned.

By going on a yearly trip to Harvard, the children of Brownsville will be able to better get "unstuck." Lopez said that many have either very limited mobility or have never left the city. She added, "I want every child who enters my school to know that they can go anywhere, and that they do belong."