NEW YORK — On his way out the door, Jon Stewart helped raise $2.2 million for an autism charity.
The ticket raffle Stewart announced back in April spurred entries from more than 47,000 people from 78 countries. Most of them made small donations — $10 or $20 each — but it added up to $2,235,520.
The raffle winner, Paul Dorasil, received two tickets to Thursday’s finale of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”
As an added bonus, the winner sat down at the desk with Stewart for a promotional interview that was posted online by Omaze, the charity fundraising platform that supported the contest.
The donations will go to New York Collaborates for Autism.
Omaze called it “our first campaign with Jon Stewart,” suggesting that maybe there will be more in the future.
On Thursday, a few hours before Stewart’s sign-off was televised by Comedy Central, Omaze released the fund-raising totals and said it was “fitting that he leveraged his final show to raise over $2 million for this incredible cause.”
