Zakai Zeigler’s family sees donations exceed goals, announces plans to donate to charity

The GoFundMe set up in support of Tennessee Volunteer Zakai Zeigler and his family following a horrible fire at their New York home has massively exceeded goals in just 24 hours. On top of losing their possessions, the family lost items that Zeigler’s mother, Charmane, says are critical to the care of his four-year-old nephew with special needs.

Starting with a goal of $50,000, donations exceeded that sum within 40 minutes. The GoFundMe project has more than $350,000 in donations as of Thursday afternoon.

After surpassing the initial figure, which the Zeigler family estimated would help cover costs to recoup their losses, the Vols guard shared an important update.

“We have been absolutely blown away by the outpouring of support and generosity!” Zakai Zeigler wrote on the GoFundMe page. “Any contributions above and beyond our final losses/expenses will be donated to charity. Thank you to everyone who has given.”

More than 5,400 people donated the $350,000+ total with several individuals, some anonymous, donating more than $2,000.

Zeigler family suffers house fire in Long Island

On Tuesday’s SEC Network broadcast of Tennessee’s game against Georgia, the announcers shared a heartbreaking story. They detailed what’s been a long week for Zakai Zeigler and his family. After an apartment fire claimed their home, his mother has been traveling with the team.

During the postgame press conference, Rick Barnes further addressed the story and what the athletic program is doing to help out.

“Tough night for Zakai, you all know what he went through after our game,” said Barnes. “His mom losing everything in a fire up in New York. It’s the first time he really hasn’t been the Zakai that we’ve known from day one, it’s been a very emotional day. You saw his mom here for the first time since the fire. It’s been a tough couple of days for him.

“When I saw him on Sunday, he looked like he hadn’t been in bed all night, and he actually said he was up until 5-6 in the morning. He loves his family, he loves his mom to death and his dad. They were there, they lost it all. And I asked him, ‘what about you?’ And he responded, ‘I’ve got what I have here.’ But he was obviously really concerned about his mother and the family.”