US Edition$1.5M raised for 88-year-old Army vet after viral video showed him working in grocery store
Donors worldwide, including celebrities, raised over $1.5 million within days to help Ed Bambas, an 88-year-old veteran working full-time due to lost pension and medical bills.
- A TikTok clip posted Dec. 2 showed Ed Bambas at a Meijer checkout, filmed by Samuel Weidenhofer, who gave him a $400 tip and launched a GoFundMe.
- After losing his pension in 2012, Bambas said, `Once my wife died, I didn't have enough income to pay for this place or all the other bills I had accumulated because of my wife's illness,` leading him to sell his house.
- Despite the attention, Bambas still uses a flip phone and works about 40 hours per week across five days, often doing eight-hour shifts at Meijer in Brighton, Michigan.
- Organizers say the crowdfund totals rose from more than $800,000 on day one to over $1.2 million by Wednesday and will help Ed Bambas pay off debts and retire, with Samuel Weidenhofer presenting the money on Friday.
- Thousands of donors and celebrities—including Charlie Puth and Russell Dickerson—boosted the campaign, while Meijer is offering no-cost financial planning to help Bambas manage donations.
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92 Articles
Viral video raises $1.8M for 88-year-old Meijer cashier who couldn’t afford to retire
Australian influencer Samuel Weidenhofer kicked off a fundraiser for Ed Bambas after approaching him at the Brighton store. The U.S. Army said he had to re-establish himself after the loss of his pension and taking care of his late wife, Joan.
88-year-old Army veteran working at grocery store receives over $1.7M in donations after viral video
Australian influencer Sam Weidenhofer's viral video about Army veteran Edmund Bambas working at a grocery store at age 88 inspired a massive GoFundMe raising over $1.7 million.
What Motivates Samuel Weidenhofer? The Truth Behind the Content Creator Raising Millions for an 88-Year-Old Veteran
Samuel Weidenhofer, the content creator behind the record-breaking campaign to help an 88-year-old U.S. Army veteran retire, is an unlikely messenger. Born in Adelaide, Australia, Weidenhofer was diagnosed at a young age with verbal dyspraxia (also known as childhood apraxia of speech), a motor speech disability where the brain has trouble coordinating the movements of the tongue, mouth, and jaw to form words. “I got sent to a special kindergar…
Army Veteran, 88, Still Works at Supermarket After Losing Pension – Strangers Raise Nearly $2 Million for Him
An 88-year-old Army veteran thought his days of hard work were behind him — until life took an unexpected turn. What happened next, sparked by a chance encounter, captured the hearts of millions. In 2025, inside a supermarket in Detroit, Michigan, one man stood quietly behind a register, scanning groceries...
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