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.

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 fun a few years ago would bring them a larger purpose and be impactful in providing help to people in need.

“We’ve had people, even just at our last fundraiser, came up and talk to us specifically about how much this means to them that someone is doing this. Being able to provide this service for those people and be their voice is something that brings me a lot of joy,” said Wichhart.

All of the proceeds from Nerdvember will go to Mission 22, a nonprofit that benefits veterans, and the Trevor Project, a nonprofit benefiting LGBTQ+ youth.

At the end of the month, the Weekly Webbs will host a 12-hour livestream celebrating the fundraiser.

To donate to their GoFundMe, click here.