Generous Teen Raises $186,000 to Help 81-Year-Old Walmart Employee Retire Debt-Free

techleaks | December 14, 2023 | Celebrity | No Comments

When we’re kids, we learn to help those who might not have as much as we do. Being kind and doing things to make others’ lives better should be a normal part of how we live today. Unfortunately, the idea of giving to others, especially when we have extra, seems to be happening less and less over the years.

But it’s not completely gone. Not yet. There are still some people who believe in being generous and helping others, even if it’s not as common as it used to be.

Sometimes, we find stories that show how wonderful it is to do extra special things for people we don’t even know.

There’s a lady named Nola Carpenter who’s turning 82 this month. She’s been working at Walmart for more than 20 years, according to her daughter.

There’s a person named Devan Bonagura from New Jersey who noticed Nola working at his local Walmart store.

Devan couldn’t understand why Nola, an 81-year-old lady, was still working and not enjoying her retirement because of her old age. So, he decided to help her, and his actions became really popular on the internet.

Devan started by sharing a short video on TikTok. It was only 15 seconds long and showed Nola sitting in the break room at Walmart in Hackettstown, New Jersey, during her work shift.

Many people liked the video. As of November 28, it got 30.8 million views and over 4.6 million reactions. The old lady in the video was Nola Carpenter, who had been working at the same Walmart store for more than 20 years.

The short video Devan shared on TikTok with the words “Life shouldn’t b this hard …” got a lot of attention. Many people felt sorry for Nola, and some were surprised that she still had to work at 81.

Because so many people reacted to the video, Devan felt like he wanted to do more to help Nola. He found out that Nola was working to save money and pay off her mortgage. She was getting paid somewhere between $17 and $19 per hour.

So, Devan started a fundraiser for Nola, and he called it “Let’s help Nola retire.” The caption said, “Nola works at Walmart, and that says enough. Let’s all come together and help.”

Surprisingly, the person in charge of the store talked to Devan and asked him to remove both the video and the fundraiser for Nola. They said their business was in trouble because of it and even threatened to get the police involved.

But Devan didn’t change his mind. He said, “I told them to do what you have to do because I’m getting this money to this woman one way or another.”

Now, let’s move forward to a video posted on November 5. Devan surprised Nola with a visit and had a chat with her. He then put $110,000 from the fundraiser into her account.

When Nola said she still needed $60,000 to fully pay off her mortgage, Devan decided to keep the GoFundMe page open until they reached more than $186,000.

Carpenter, the 81-year-old lady, said, “I feel good, and I’m thankful for Devan for what he’s done, or none of this would have been possible.” Now, with the money, she can finally retire.

Nola mentioned feeling sad about not seeing her regular customers but said she would keep working during the upcoming holiday season. She plans to retire at the beginning of 2023.