You're reading: Associated Press: Bernie Sanders’ mittens, memes help raise $1.8M for charity

Associated Press: Bernie Sanders’ mittens, memes help raise $1.8M for charity

Published Jan. 28, 2021 at 5:21 am

(FILES) In this file photo taken on January 20, 2021 Former presidential candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) sits in the bleachers on Capitol Hill before Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th US President at the US Capitol in Washington, DC. - The Inauguration Day photograph of a mitten-clad, glamor-defying Bernie Sanders perhaps was not the most flattering image of the US senator, but it has become a remarkably charitable one. The 79-year-old lawmaker from the northeastern state of Vermont announced January 27, 2021 he has raised $1.8 million for charity over the past five days through sales of merchandise featuring him wearing knit mittens and a parka at President Joe Biden's January 20 swearing-in. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)

Photo by AFP

About those wooly mittens that U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders wore to the presidential inauguration, sparking endless quirky memes across social media? They’ve helped to raise $1.8 million in the last five days for charitable organizations in Sanders’ home state of Vermont, the independent senator announced Wednesday.