March 28, 2024
Annapolis, US 47 F

Sunderlands Abandon Fundraising Effort

The website www.savewildeyes was purchased and created on June 12, 2010 to solicit funds to “bring Wild Eyes home with Abby.”

Today, after it has become clear that there may be more to the story than an adventurous teen and some encouraging parents, the quest has been abandoned and the links to the site from Abby’s official blog and website have been removed.

We have exhausted all efforts to locate and retrieve Wild Eyes. Thank you to everyone who has a heart to help Abby in this way. Donors will be contacted about a refund.

Since Abby Sunderland was rescued in the middle of the Indian Ocean by Australian authorities, the Sunderlands have been on the forefront of a media frenzy–and apparently deservedly so! While many came to their defense and the dream of Abby, we felt that this story had something more to it.

Sure enough, it has been revealed in the past few days that the Sunderlands are essentially broke and in an effort to remedy that, have been in negotiations with a television studio for a reality show tentatively called Adventures With The Sunderlands. Can you say Balloon Boy?  This ties in very nicely with their own videographer who revealed to Geraldo Rivera last night that Abby told him that her father pressured her to make the solo voyage.

No doubt as these developments are made public, it became evident that their hastily made “charity” may not have been anything more than a money grab–perhaps to raise money to fly to Abby when she hits the mainland.

The unfortunate victim in all of this is Abby Sunderland. Here is a 16 year old girl who is an avid, adept, and eminently qualified sailor who ran into a bad storm. It could have happened to anyone–and it will. Yet stateside, the people who are supposed to be her largest supporters are busy creating websites to garner donations and negotiating television deals.  One word describes this–despicable.

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