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Cincinnati man gains internet’s support after he gets beaten up for trying build a community center for his neighbourhood

Ronald Moon, Jr.'s emotional video has been viewed more than 700,000 times. (YouTube)

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Ronald Moon, Jr. wanted to do something constructive for his Cincinnati neighbourhood by turning an old home his father bought years ago into a community center. Instead, the project that he put months of effort towards kept getting broken into and burglarized.

This week Moon came across the people who have been breaking in, and in a video he posted to YouTube, he said “this is what they did to me.”

In the video, his face is shown to be bloody and bruised, with scratches and open cuts on his back and along his elbows.

Left out of options, the deeply upset Moon took to the video sharing platform to vent his frustrations and share his dreams of doing something positive for his neighbourhood.

“I’m tired of struggling,” he told the camera. “I’m just trying to do the best that I can for my people.”

But instead of giving up, Moon created a GoFundMe page to help get the community centre built and running.

The Internet felt his pain and his inspirational story went viral.

“This is really hard to watch. My heart goes out to this guy,” writes a Reddit user under the name tayls.

As a response, a user by the name of ACanadIanGamer reminds us that “it is usually the hardest things to watch that are the most important.”

In less than 24 hours, the campaign raised more than $43,000, with more than 2,000 people donating to the cause.

That’s almost nine times what he asked for.

On the page, Moon indicates what he plans on having in the community centre, which includes storytelling, gardening, cultural education and carpentry.

“I left my job two months ago to fully dedicate myself to this but foolishly struggled to seriously ask for help,” Moon admitted.

“I am in good health and my wounds will heal in time, but the goal to offer this neighbourhood a resource it can benefit from remains my primary focus.”