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A year after Karen Klein became famous as the target of four bullying seventh-graders, the 69-year-old bus monitor has turned the kindness of a sympathetic public into the start of a movement. In the days after a 10-minute cellphone video showing the students tormenting Klein went viral, donations to the tune of $700,000 poured in from all over the world.
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The idea behind the fundraiser was to give Klein a vacation, but she's trying to turn the money into something bigger than herself.
"I would like to say to please watch out for the bullies," Klein said. "If anybody sees somebody getting bullied, help them out. Don't be afraid."
Klein founded the Karen Klein Anti-Bullying Foundation, seeding it with $100,000 to promote kindness and spread an anti-bullying message.
The foundation launched a music tour, with help from the likes of Miss Teen USA 2012 Logan West, but Klein is also trying restore some normality to her life.
"I would really like to buy an RV and travel," she said. "That is what I would really like to do. What I really will do, I don't know."
Although Klein decided not to press charges against the teens, the incident remains painful.
"Have I forgiven them?" she mused. "I don't know. I really don't know."
