When Gabrielle Blair heard of a tragic airplane accident involving a fellow blogger, she thought if she could just raise $1,000 she would be happy.

Two and a half weeks later, bloggers from around the nation and the world have raised more than $100,000 for Stephanie Nielson and her family, and the money hasn’t stopped pouring in.

The author of NieNie Dialogues, Stephanie Nielson, was critically injured along with her husband in a private airplane crash in Arizona last month. A Cessna 177 carrying Mesa residents Doug Kinneard and Stephanie and Christian Nielson crashed just after takeoff Aug. 16 in St. Johns, Ariz. Stephanie Nielson is the daughter of Provo city councilwoman Cindy Clark and state lawmaker Stephen Clark.

Doug Kinneard, the pilot, was taken to the hospital with serious injuries and later died. Kinneard left behind a wife and four children, ages 13 to 25. As news of the accident travelled around the blogging world, readers who had never met Nielson were shocked and immediately sprung into action.

Brittany Birnel, a Bond, Ore., blogger, said she has never met Stephanie, but she checked NieNie Dialogues regularly for advice on motherhood. When she heard about the accident, she said she wanted to help.

“I was heartbroken,” she said. “It could so easily happen to any one of us.”

The story of the airplane accident hits home for a lot of bloggers and their readers, Birnel said. A lot of bloggers are moms and are naturally drawn to Stephanie’s positive view of motherhood.

“She was really an inspiration as far as raising young children and being a stay-at-home mom,” she said.

Blair said as a blogger with more than 6,000 views a day on Design Mom, she decided she could help raise money through silent auctions. Blair declared Thursday, Aug. 28, as “NieNie Day,” a day for people all over the blogging community to hold silent auctions. Instead of holding them all herself, Blair said she decided to use her blog as a central posting for everyone else’s auctions and a couple of her own. Allowing everyone to have a personal impact helped each person do something physical to help a friend, she said.

When she checked her blog at 6 a.m. on NieNie Day, 165 auctions were already in place, Blair said. By the end of the day, there were more than 300, and the number has since passed 400. Thousands of people who had never heard of Stephanie were suddenly participating in a massive fundraising effort.

“I feel like this has really been a demonstration of what this new community, this blogging community, can do,” she said.

Some items auctioned included a football and helmet signed by the Brigham Young University football team, both of which sold for more than $500. Bloggers also talked vendors into donating expensive strollers and other baby goods. Birnel said items on her Web site often sold for more than double their worth, while dozens of seemingly insignificant items went for hundreds of dollars.

One example of such an auction was the offer on Stephanie Nielson’s brother’s blog. Christopher Clark wrote on his blog he could not do much, but he could make some lucky bidder awesome.

“I will make you awesome,” the auction reads. “I will write a blog about you that will show everyone why you are basically the best person ever (non-deity). I will show pictures of you, tell special stories and you will be immortal. I will do my best to guarantee that my post about you gets a bazillion hits. Think of what this could do for your ego!”

Clark’s offer eventually was won by a bidder for more than $800, with some people asking to buy just a sentence.

Reachel Bagley, the godmother of Stephanie’s children, said it has not been uncommon for bloggers to offer up simple items like a plate of cookies or handmade crafts. People want to help the family in any way they can, even if they do not know the Nielson’s.

“I think it’s kind of the idea of the widow’s mite,” she said. “People give whatever they have.”

Bagley said 90 percent of the people who contact her as the nierecovery.com administrator are other bloggers. Stephanie’s story has spread through blogs and media reports, and those who do not know her end up reading her blog and wanting to get involved. “It’s not just people who knew her before the accident,” she said. “People are being introduced to her for the first time.”

The donations have not just been monetary either. Bagley said one woman has donated iPods for the couple to listen to audio books while they are in the hospital. While they are still comatose, Stephanie and Christian are still able to hear, and Bagley said Stephanie will soon be learning French on the iPod.

Courtney Kendrick, Stephanie’s sister, said 20 to 30 e-mails appear in her inbox every day asking how to help with Stephanie’s children. People send packages and care items almost daily, including a recent package from Germany with treats for the children.

“We’ve received packages from all over the world,” she said.

Kendrick said Stephanie will be delighted that her blog has created so much goodness, though she expects the magnitude of the response will be a big surprise. Kendrick said she is grateful for people’s offers and the lengths people have gone to help.

“People are willing to donate whatever they have, even if they don’t have anything,” she said.

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The blogs

For updates on the conditions of Stephanie and Christian Nielson’s and their family: /blog.cjanerun.com/

To check out Stephanie’s blog (where her family is re-posting items from her archives): nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/

For information about upcoming fundraisers and events for the Nielsons: www.nierecovery.com/