{"id":347726,"date":"2026-03-15T16:15:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T16:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/347726\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T16:15:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T16:15:23","slug":"more-than-500k-raised-for-78-year-old-doordash-driver-forced-out-of-retirement-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/347726\/","title":{"rendered":"More than $500K raised for 78-year-old DoorDash driver forced out of retirement – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a 78-year-old DoorDash<\/a> driver delivered her order, a Tennessee woman started a fundraiser to support him, raising more than US$500,000 in donations.<\/p>\n

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\nBrittany Smith shared a TikTok video<\/a> of Richard Pulley delivering her Starbucks order to her front door on March 10, writing, \u201cTik tok [sic] I need your help! Help me find this precious man! He delivered Starbucks to my house today but I need to find him because why is he door dashing at this age! He\u2019s so precious just look at him! He should be retired living his best life. His name is Richard according to the app.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the video shared by Smith, Pulley is captured on doorbell video delivering the order to her doorstep, slowly walking up the pathway towards her home, before hesitating for a brief moment in front of the steps that lead to her front porch. He carefully walks up the stairs and gingerly bends down to drop off Smith\u2019s order.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t @savetheweens931<\/a> <\/p>\n

Tik tok I need your help!!!! Help me find this precious man! He delivered Starbucks to my house today but I need to find him because why is he door dashing at this age! He\u2019s so precious just look at him! He should be retired living his best life\ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d his name is Richard according to the app and this is the Manchester, Tennessee area! #Tennessee<\/a>#helpmefindhim<\/a> #letshelphimretire<\/a> #pleaseshare<\/a><\/p>\n

\u266c original sound \u2013 savetheweens931<\/a> <\/p>\n

Smith decided to start a fundraiser for Pulley after she was able to \u201ctrack down Richard and learned he does DoorDash due to his wife being fired from her job (at no fault of her own) and by the time they pay their monthly expenses plus purchase their medication, there is nothing left,\u201d according to the GoFundMe page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s help Richard go back into retirement,\u201d the page added.<\/p>\n

The GoFundMe post had raised more than US$552,000 of its $600,000 goal from more than 18,000 donations as of Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Smith tracked down Pulley and his wife, Brenda, to tell them about the funds raised for them and met with them at a local restaurant on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen you\u2019re past your mid-70s, there\u2019s not exactly a line of people waiting to hire you,\u201d Brenda told NBC affiliate WSMV of turning to DoorDash for work.<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u201cWith just one income in the family, you have to push \u2026 Just losing that, we had to supplement it,\u201d Pulley said about his wife losing her job.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s just really difficult to believe that there\u2019s that many people that are that generous to try to help us \u2026 People that don\u2019t even know us,\u201d Brenda said of the donations.<\/p>\n

The couple plans to use the funds to slow down and reduce financial stress on their 56-year-old marriage, WSMV reports.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you just look at all the things that you need to pay \u2026 because if it don\u2019t, you\u2019re going to end up in the hospital \u2026 with something even more expensive than that,\u201d Brenda said, who has thousands of dollars in medical costs a year.<\/p>\n

The couple thanked Smith for setting the campaign to help them out, with Brenda saying, \u201cShe\u2019s remarkable. I just can\u2019t believe that someone would be that caring to set this up for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe appreciate every one of them \u2026 it\u2019s taking a lot of pressure off of us \u2026 and making life livable once again,\u201d Pulley added of all the donations.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time someone has started up a fundraiser for a senior person in their community; in December, Australian content creator Sam Weidenhofer raised over $1.7 million for an 88-year-old army veteran<\/a> from Michigan, who gained internet fame after a video of him went viral. The man explained in the video that he had to work in a grocery store to make ends meet.<\/p>\n

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The man, Ed Bambas, caught the attention of\u00a0 Weidenhofer \u2014 known for his videos about spreading kindness \u2014 after a person familiar with the store where he works nominated him in the comments of one of his videos.<\/p>\n

At the end of the TikTok, Weidenhofer asked for permission to share Bamba\u2019s story so people could help him out, and then directed followers to a\u00a0GoFundMe<\/a>\u00a0for the grocery store worker.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn just under 36 hours, we\u2019ve shattered every expectation, raising over $1,000,000 for Ed Bambas, a remarkable 88-year-old veteran who has been working 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, just to get by,\u201d Weidenhofer wrote on Instagram<\/a> photo of the pair smiling.<\/p>\n

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