Iowa podcasters open annual mental health fundraiser with community support [Video]

DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa podcasters are kicking off their fourth annual mental health fundraiser with massive support from their community.

In 2020, Tyler French, Zach Higgins, Zach Wicchart, and Cole Huerter created an anime podcast, called the Weekly Weebs Podcast. Every November, they use their platform to raise awareness for mental health and suicide prevention through a fundraiser, called Nerdvember. Over their previous three fundraisers, they’ve raised over $6,000.

They hosted a kick-off event last weekend where over 40 people attended to show support.

“Before November even started, we’re already seeing so much more support than we did our entire first year of doing it. So, it’s beautiful,” said Higgins.

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Their original goal was to raise $2,500 this month, but they already raised over $1,700 during the kick-off event alone. Higgins said he never imagined that the podcast they started for …