A woman who grows and donates food to those in need said someone dumped salt on her garden, destroying her harvest. TikTokers rushed to offer money and support.

• Carly Burd, who grows produce for people in need, said she found her garden vandalized with salt.
• After Burd shared her heartbreak with TikTok, users began offering donations, advice, and support.

A TikToker who said she'd fed more than 1,600 people amid the cost-of-living crisis in the UK found her garden vandalized with salt, which killed the crops, according to a viral video she posted Tuesday. The video has been viewed more than 1.6 million times as strangers send in donations and locals offer to help restore her land.

In November, Carly Burd began posting about her A Meal on Me With Love initiative, which assembles fruits and vegetables she grows from her garden in Harlow, England, into donation boxes she delivers to those in need.

"I have single-handedly fed 190 people, transformed my whole garden into an allotment," she wrote in her fundraiser.

This week, Burd told viewers she believed someone trespassed onto her plot of land and poured copious amounts of salt to destroy "hours and hours of work" that she'd put in. (Excess salt on farmland can decimate plant growth.)

"Everything I've planted won't grow, and I can't replant on it because it won't grow," she said.

Commenters flooded the video with words of support, shared sadness, and offered her funds, advice, and their own hands to help bring her garden back to life.

TikTokers who said they were farmers themselves said using plenty of straw and water could undo some of the damage. "We can fix this!" one person told her.

"Can I help?" another viewer asked, adding that they lived nearby. "Please let me know somehow and I'll help fix it."

Burd's A Meal on Me With Love fundraiser has seen a deluge of donations in light of this news.

"Can't believe someone would do this," one person wrote with a £10 donation.

"I was horrified to read today about what happened to your garden, but it's wonderful to see the level of support you are receiving here," another added with another £10 gift.

Burd thanked viewers for an influx of donations in a follow-up video on Wednesday but said being able to taste the salt wafting from the plot was still crushing.

Through tears, Burd said onions that her children and volunteers helped her plant "would have fed 300 families."

"The amount of work — I can't even begin to tell you — that's gone into that allotment, it's unbelievable," she added.

As of Tuesday, Burd's GoFundMe campaign had raised £83,290, with its initial goal being £4,000. Its description says that all funds raised "goes straight back into 'A Meal on Me.'"

As inflation prices hit record highs, many English citizens have faced an increased risk of hunger. In the past year, the number of UK children experiencing food poverty almost doubled.

In a television interview Burd posted on her account in November, she said her own experiences of being unable to afford food while on disability made her more empathetic toward those struggling to make ends meet. (Burd has previously discussed living with multiple sclerosis and lupus.)

On Wednesday, Burd told viewers she's still "absolutely heartbroken" by what transpired but she wouldn't be defeated by the setbacks. It's unclear who the perpetrator and perpetrators were. Burd did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

She said with the help of others, she was able to dig up a lot of the salt and planned to cover it with topsoil to "neutralize it" so things could grow once again. In the interim, she intends to turn the area into a community space where neighbors can connect and share their own food and harvests.

"I think I'm going to turn it into a seating area where elders can come down and we can have tea and coffee and cakes and chats and things like that," Burd said.

"I'm absolutely overwhelmed by everyone's comments and everything," she added. "I really do appreciate it — thank you."