More than £80,000 has been donated to a fundraising page set up to support the family of three-year-old Noah Woods, who was found dead following a huge search.
The toddler became separated from a relative after visiting a playground in Merriam Close, Brantham, on Tuesday afternoon, Suffolk Police said.
Around 1,300 members of the public joined a search to find Noah, who police said was non-verbal, partially deaf and had been undergoing an assessment for autism.
Met Police divers recovered his body from a lake, known locally as Decoy Pond, on Wednesday afternoon and Suffolk Police said his death was not being treated as suspicious.
A JustGiving page set up by Good Dads Club, a community of fathers based in Colchester, Essex, had received more than £80,000 in donations from a total of more than 5,000 supporters by late Friday morning.
The fundraiser aims to help Noah’s family with expenses and allow them “time off work to grieve without the added strain of financial worry”.
In a statement, Good Dads Club said: “We expected to raise a modest amount to pass on to the Woods family when the time was right, but what we hadn’t planned for was an astonishing avalanche of kindness, compassion and empathy from thousands and thousands of you, all with the shared goal of helping poor Noah’s family.
“We set the page up, but it’s absolutely not about us, we are here to shine a light on a wonderful community of people who have united to help search for Noah, offer support to the Woods family and the incredible donations that will be able to provide some financial relief to help them navigate through an incredibly difficult grieving period.
“The Woods family have been made aware of the fundraiser, and are incredibly grateful for everyone’s generosity, but we think we can keep going and raise as much as possible for them.”
On Thursday, Noah’s father Rhys Woods paid tribute to his son in a message shared on a community Facebook group.
He wrote: “There are no words to describe the pain of this loss, we are all absolutely heartbroken, Noah was the sweetest and most innocent little boy, with nothing but love to give, and we are going to miss him so very much.”
Suffolk Police said on Thursday that the body of the child recovered by police divers had been formally identified as Noah Woods, aged three and from Brantham, subject to confirmation at formal inquest proceedings.
The force said that his death was not being treated as suspicious but that police still have a number of inquiries to complete before submitting a file for the coroner.
The fundraiser can be found at justgiving.com/crowdfunding/gooddadsclub
