Man Raises More Than $100,000 To Help Elderly Retail Worker Retire

Nov 15, 2022

People retire between the ages of 65 and 67 in most countries. But some people opt to retire early at the age of 62. Sadly, not everyone has the privilege to retire early. There could be a lot of reasons why people work even if they have already reached their 70s or even 80s. But most of the time, it’s because they need to keep working to have food on the table and have enough money to pay the bills.

While people have the option to work even if they have reached beyond retirement age, it’s undoubtedly heartbreaking to see elderly work when they should be enjoying life considering their age – and that’s exactly what a guy felt about a woman who works at Walmart.

Devan Bonagura, who works for a third-party company selling phones at Walmart, felt sad after seeing the elderly woman, Nola, inside a breakroom. So, he shared a video of Nola on TikTok.

In the video, Nola was seen staring at the floor while sitting on a chair. “Life shouldn’t b this hard,” he wrote in the video he shared.

“I feel bad,” Bonagura wrote in the caption of the video.

As of the writing, the video has already amassed 28 million views.

With the kind of reach the video achieved hours after he posted it on TikTok, he knew he had to seize the opportunity of helping Nola. So, he started a GoFundMe for her to “help Nola retire.”

To his surprise, he raised $100,000 in less than 24 hours.

In another video, Bonagura can be seen talking to Nola’s daughter on the phone. She can be heard agreeing to his proposition to meet with Nola to hand her the money.

“Like you said, everyone can be at peace – that they could see that yes, it went to whom it belongs to,” Nola’s daughter said before thanking Bonagura.

Bonagura then shared an emotional video where he told Nola about the GoFundMe and that they raised over $10,000 for her.

Nola said she would accept the money on one condition. “I’d accept it but I’d still have to work ‘til I get the other $70,000 or $60,000 to pay off the house,” Nola said.

As of November 2022, the donations have surpassed $183,500.

“I’ll retire as soon as I get it. That’s what’s holding me at work and it’s the house,” she explained.

Bonagura also uploaded a video of Nola’s granddaughter thanking him for helping her grandmother.

“I just want to let you know that I saw the video – what you did for my grandmother. And I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you did for me and also for my family. It means a lot to all of us that you did this for her. And it was a very kind thing to do,” Nola’s granddaughter said.

While a lot of people believed in Bonagura’s cause, some people were skeptical about donating because they thought the GoFundMe that he started might be fake. So, Nola’s granddaughter came to Bonagura’s defense.

The manager at the said Walmart branch said they would call the police if he didn’t take down the video of Nola, but he refused. So, he got suspended from his job with pay instead.

Now, Bonagura has since been on a roll and has been giving back to different kinds of people, including the homeless.

“This would not have been possible without you guys,” he wrote.

What can you say about what Devan Bonagura did for Nola? Let us know your thoughts, and pass this on to your family and friends!