Ed Bambas was down on his luck.
Bambas, an 88-year-old Army veteran, had worked hard most of his life, and after becoming financially secure, retired in 1999. But then the General Motors plant he had worked for went bankrupt, wiping out his pension in 2012. To add more stress, his wife became ill, medical bills piled up, and the couple had to sell off most of their assets to make ends meet. After Bambas’ wife died seven years ago, he eventually went back to work, logging eight-hour shifts, five days a week at a Meijer grocery store in Michigan just to pay the bills.
Bambas’ plight grabbed the attention of Samuel Weidenhofer, an Australian influencer with a large TikTok following of more than 7.6 million followers. Weidenhofer seeks out folks who are struggling, interviews them, and posts the conversations on social media, hoping they’ll get help from the generosity of others.
After Weidenhofer had posted that he was in Detroit and he was looking for someone to help, he received a comment on Facebook about an 88-year-old veteran working 40 hours a week at a grocery store.
“I knew nothing about him,” Weidenhofer told NBC News.
He found Bambas manning his shift at a store in Brighton. He walked up to the veteran and asked if he could talk about his story.
“So, you've been struggling a bit?” Weidenhofer asked. “Ah, a little bit,” Bambas said.
The video of a teary-eyed Bambas went viral. Weidenhofer set up a GoFundMe Campaign asking the public for help. Boy, did it ever. As of Friday afternoon, the fund has generated more than $1.7 million from nearly 62 thousand donors. One donor, Ryan Bartlett, has pledged $10,000.
Michael Bambas, Ed’s son, told NBC News his dad has no idea how much money has been raised. Weidenhofer was planning to present the money to him on Friday.
“My dad has no idea how much is in the fund. He doesn’t do the internet or any of that stuff, so he has no idea how much is in there or anything else,” Michael Bambas said. “He knows there’s a GoFundMe page, but that’s all he knows.”
Financial Struggle
“The thing that hurt me the most was when my wife was really sick, and when they took the pension, they also took the health care coverage and all but $10,000 of my life insurance,” Bambas explained, through tears. “So, I sold my house, sold the property I had, we made it through.”
Bambas had to find a way to get back on track after his wife died, so he started working again.
“I don’t have enough income,” he said in the video.
Weidenhofer asked Bambas if he could share his touching story online. Perhaps the kindness of strangers could help him enjoy retirement. The veteran began to cry.
Story Goes Viral
After Weidenhofer posted the story on Monday and set up the GoFundMe campaign, Michael Bambas’ phone started lighting up. Text messages came flooding in from friends and family who had seen his dad’s video on social media.
“I saw my dad, and he was telling me about some guy that came into the store, started asking him questions, and then they wanted to do this little mini-interview, and the guy gave him a $400 tip,” he said. “That’s all we kind of knew about it, didn’t think much more of it.”
Michael Bambas got in touch with Weidenhofer, and the two have discussed how his dad will receive the monetary gift. He said while the past few days have been a whirlwind, he’s grateful his father’s story made an impact.
“I don’t know how to thank everybody for what they’re doing for my dad. It’s just amazing, words can’t describe,” Michael Bambas said.
After his wife died, Bambas found it difficult to function, his son said.
“Right after my mom passed away, I’d go over to the house, and I’d find him basically walking around in circles, not knowing what to do with himself because he took care of my mom for almost 10 years as her primary caretaker,” he said. “After she passed, he was pretty much lost as far as purpose and all of that.”
‘Start Living’ Again
Bambas has been working at Meijer for the past five years.
“I try to help him when and where I can financially, but he accumulated a lot of debt due to medical bills and such,” his son said.
Representatives from Meijer said Bambas adds value to the store, bringing “joy and warmth” to customers. The viral video has also prompted the supermarket chain to step up for Bambas as well.
“We are providing Ed with no-cost financial planning assistance for life to help him make the most of these generous contributions and will continue to support him as a valued member of our team,” the store said in a statement.
Whether Bambas will keep working at Meijer after he receives the $1.7 million (and growing) is unknown, but his son believes the money will help him “start living and doing things for himself.”
