Monday, June 22, 2026

New York Times Story About Homeless 8 Year Old Chess Champion Raises $81K In Less Than Three Days for Kid, Family

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On Saturday, 8 year old Tanitoluwa Adewumi and his family were living in a New York City shelter. They are homeless.

But a story in the New York Times by Nicholas Kristof has turned that all around. Since Saturday, $81,000 has been raised for the family on gofundme.com.

The incentive here is that Tani is a grade school chess champion. His parents — who emigrated here a year ago from Nigeria– are hard workers. But they have nowhere to live.

Tani’s teacher, Russ Makofksy, started the GoFundMe page. He writes in the updates today: “This past weekend at the New York State Chess Championships he claimed the title of New York State Primary Chess Champion! (Top Players K – 3rd Grade).

Read the link to the Times story. Amazing! We’ll check back in and see how the campaign proceeds.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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