A TikToker donated $186,000 for an 81-year-old Walmart employee to pay off her house and eventually retire after 20 years with the retail giant.
Devan Bonagura, 19, of New Jersey, went popular earlier this month after posting a video of Nola Carpenter sitting in the break room during her shift at the Hackettstown Walmart.
Life shouldn’t be this difficult, he remarked in on-screen writing.
Since it was released on November 2, the heartbreaking video has been seen over 30 million times. The tremendous reaction from comments prompted Bonagura to launch a GoFundMe campaign to fund Carpenter’s retirement.
Bonagura then stated that while he videotaped Carpenter in the break room, he was working for a third-party vendor who sells phones inside Walmart.
In a subsequent video, he said that a shop manager ordered him to remove both the viral video and the fundraising he set up for her since the chain was receiving threats.
Bonagura claimed that his company suspended him with pay, but it was worth it because he raised more than $100,000 for Carpenter in just 24 hours.
When he presented her with the money a few days later, the GoFundMe had reached $110,000. Carpenter expressed her appreciation for the gifts, stating that they will assist her mortgage be “way down.”
Yet, it was insufficient for her to retire.
She’ll accept it, she said of the money, but she’d still have to work till she paid off the remaining $60,000 on the property.
Walmart’s average hourly compensation is around $17, implying that she would need to labor for several years to pay off her mortgage completely.
When the GoFundMe campaign raised $181,000, which was more than Carpenter wanted to retire, Bonagura shot another update with her. At the time of publication, the total had risen to $186,653 from 13,500 contributions.
She feels fantastic, and grateful to Devan for what he’s done because without him, none of this would be happening, she added. That’s why she was working at Walmart: to pay off her mortgage.
Carpenter revealed that she will work for Walmart during the hectic holiday season before retiring in early 2023.
She will miss seeing her regular clients after working at the shop for the past 20 years.