Ed Bambas (right) with content creator Samuel Weidenhofer
After a lifetime of working, an 88-year-old American still worked five days a week in a supermarket. In a few days, unknown people raised almost 2 million dollars so that he could finally reform.
Until the beginning of this month, Ed Bambas was part of the vast group of older Americans who continue to workwith no reform in sight. At 88 years old, after losing his retirement 7 years ago, the American veteran still worked 5 days a week at a supermarket in Detroit.
But, a few days ago, his life changed: he crossed paths with the content creator and influencer, who has 12 million followers on social media, where he does something peculiar: distributes kindness.
On Monday of the week, Weidenhofer launched a fundraiser on the platform, to help Bambas leave work and finally be able to retire.
“I am launching this campaign to help Ed live the life he deservesto finally give you some relief, comfort and tranquility that comes from knowing you can enjoy your later years without a constant struggle,” Weidenhofer wrote on GoFundMe.
The fundraising had a initial goal of 1 million dollarswhich has already been largely surpassed: at the time of this edition, more than 65,500 people had already contributed a total of 1,898,497 dollars, around 1.6 million euroshow gathered together in less than a week, by thousands of strangers.
In a video shared by Weidenhofer on social media, Bambas explains that he is an 88-year-old army veteran who works at a supermarket in Detroit. five days a week, eight hours a day. He retired from General Motors in 1999, but lost his pension when the company went into bankruptcyem 2009.
Bambas told Weidenhofer that the woman, who died seven years agowas ill at the time he stopped receiving his pension. Without this pension, Bambas had to return to the job market.
According to 2023 US Census data, almost 550 thousand North Americans aged 80 and over continue to work, highlights the . Although some do so out of their own desire to continue working, others accept jobs to cope with the financial insecurity.
Some workers over the age of 80 told Insider that they use their income to supplement Social Security and other retirement benefits. They fear that without this extra money, cannot bear the cost of living.
Weidenhofer shared a video on Friday of Bambas receiving the GoFundMe check. “It’s one of those things you dream about”, says Bambas, who thanked everyone who contributed to the campaign. “I can’t express it in words how grateful I am to all the people”, he stated.
Born in Adelaide, Australia, Weidenhofer was diagnosed at a young age with verbal dyspraxiaor childhood apraxia of speech, a motor speech disability in which the brain has difficulty coordinating tongue movementsmouth and jaw to form words.
“I was sent to a special kindergartenI did eight years of therapy, my parents never thought I would be able to communicate properly”, the influencer tells .
“Therefore, see that one voice can make such a difference in the worlda voice I didn’t even know I would be able to communicate with properly, greatly raises awareness about people with invisible disabilities”.
And without a doubt, Weidenhofer is making a difference.
