A TikTok user’s fundraising campaign brought in more than $180,000. This will assist a senior Walmart employee in paying off her mortgage and retiring.
A 15-second video that Devan Bonagura uploaded to TikTok showed an elderly woman sitting by herself in the Walmart break room. She was donning a vest and a nametag from Walmart.
“Life shouldn’t be so challenging. In Devan’s TikTok video, the caption reads, “I feel horrible. Over 24.1 million people have watched the touching video on the well-known social media platform.
Devan had no idea how much attention the video would receive right away. In order to assist the woman, several of them even urged him to start a GoFundMe page.
His GoFundMe for her was promptly started, much to the delight of his fans. Let’s assist Nola in retiring, reads the description. The fact that Nola works at Walmart should suffice. Come together and provide a hand.
It raised more than $100,000 in only one day. Devan met Nola for the account transfer and released a video of their meeting on November 5.
He told her, “They observed that you’re a really hard worker, obviously. We wanted to give you the $110,000 that has been raised for you since we are all so proud of you.
Although Nola stated she would accept it, she still needed to work to earn an additional $60,000 to pay off her mortgage. She acknowledged that the money would be helpful and that she wouldn’t need to save for her mortgage for as long.
Given that Walmart gives its employees an hourly wage of $19, it would probably take Nola a few more years to earn the extra $60,000 from the company.
Nola said that she would retire as soon as she could afford her mortgage. “The house is what keeps me at work,” she remarked. She was, nevertheless, adamant on working hard so she could retire and live out the rest of her days without worrying about money. She was tremendously appreciative to everyone who made an effort to lessen her difficulties.
Sadly, Walmart recognized Devan’s deed of goodwill due of the aforementioned video, which led to Walmart receiving a lot of flak.
He said in one of his videos, “They’re receiving a lot of blowback, so they told me I need to erase the video, delete the fundraising page, and give back all the money to the individuals who donated it or they’re going to call the cops.”
I told them to do what they had to because I would somehow manage to get this money to this woman, he continued. Devan also informed his audience that his worker had been suspended with pay.
On November 10, Devan’s GoFundMe had raised more than $172,000, which Nola could ideally use to retire and pay off her mortgage.
Devan garnered 132k followers after sharing Nola’s video, and despite obstacles and backlash from some of his followers, he continued to assist others and organize fundraising events that he also shared on social media. One of them involved giving a waitress $500 as gratuity for a cup of water.
To update the public on Nola’s present circumstance, Devan recently shared a video of his conversation with her. She responded positively to the question about how she was doing and expressed her gratitude for Devan’s assistance.
Additionally, Nola said that after 20 years of employment at Walmart, she will officially retire on January 1st. She also thanked everyone on TikTok who contributed to the fundraising efforts, shared the word, and made donations.
She then sent Devan a heartfelt message with best wishes. I simply want to ensure that you perform well and achieve your goals, and I sincerely hope that this is the case.
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