Fund for bullied New York grandmother tops $185,000 ... and rising

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A fund set up for an upstate New York grandmother has taken in more than $185,000 in just 24 hours after a video showing her being bullied by middle schoolers on a school bus went viral on the Internet.

The ten-minute video, in which students from Athena Middle School in suburban Rochester insult 68-year-old bus monitor Karen Klein, making her cry, has received more than 1.5 million views on YouTube.

In response, a donation fund started on the website indiegogo.com had raised $185,419 for Klein by late morning on Thursday, according to a live tally posted on the site. The fund was created on Wednesday.

The post connected to the fund says that Klein "doesn't earn nearly enough" to deal with the children bullying her. "Let's give her something she will never forget, a vacation of a lifetime!"

A statement from the Greece Central School District, where Athena Middle School is located, said Greece Police have become involved in an investigation of the incident, interviewing "all of those involved."

"We do not tolerate harassment of staff or students," the statement said.

Klein, whose Facebook page says she has been widowed for about 17 years, appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" and NBC's "Today" on Thursday morning, and was scheduled to appear with Anderson Cooper on CNN and on Fox News' "Fox & Friends" later Thursday.

(Reporting By Joseph O'Leary; Editing by Dan Burns and David Brunnstrom)