Hundreds of strangers raise over $56K to keep woman, 108, in assisted living home

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Hundreds of strangers have raised more than $40,000 so that a 108-year-old woman can stay in her assisted living home in Columbus, Ohio.

Carrie Lou Rausch has been living at the home, Sunrise on the Scioto, for the past three years since she was 105, her 67-year-old daughter, Susan Hatfield, told ABC News.

"To put it delicately, I didn't know she would live to be 108, and towards the end of last year, I knew she was getting low on funds," Hatfield said.

In a last ditch effort to keep her mother at her current assisted living facility, Hatfield said she started a GoFundMe campaign in October 2016.

The crowdfunding campaign received a few donations here and there, mainly from friends and family, but it was not until local news stations covered Rausch's 108th birthday this past Jan. 3 that hundreds of strangers began donate to the account.

Last week, more than 800 donors raised the campaign's goal amount of $40,000 -- the cost of living at Sunrise on the Scioto for a year, according to Hatfield.

Hatfield told ABC News that she would be keeping campaign open for a little while longer, and any additional funds raised would be used to support her mother into the following year. Funds that go unused will be donated to her mother's church, she said.