Brighton, Michigan
\n AP
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n Ed Bambas will soon ring up his last can of corn.\n <\/p>\n
\n The 88-year-old Michigan grocery worker was handed an oversized check for $1.7 million Friday, the result of a remarkable fundraising campaign by a young Australian man with an extraordinary following on social media.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cNo, no,\u201d Bambas said, wiping tears and sniffles in front of reporters. \u201cThank you. Oh, my God.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Sam Weidenhofer, 22, is using his powerful platforms to spread kindness \u2014 and money \u2014 on a visit to the United States.\n <\/p>\n
\n He met Bambas at a Meijer store in Brighton in southeastern Michigan about two weeks ago and recorded a TikTok video for his 7.7 million followers in which the General Motors retiree explained why he\u2019s still working as he approaches 90, following the death of his wife, Joan, after a chronic illness in 2018.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI don\u2019t have enough income,\u201d Bambas said on the video.\n <\/p>\n
\n Weidenhofer in turn launched an online GoFundMe drive, urging people to help Bambas.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cHis story is a stark reminder that too many of our seniors, especially veterans face incredible challenges just to survive,\u201d said Weidenhofer, who\u2019s from Melbourne, Australia, and has more than 10 million followers on various social media sites.\n <\/p>\n
\n The response was dizzying: More than 15,000 people have pitched in with donations ranging from $10 to $10,000.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt means a terrible burden,\u201d Bambas jokingly told reporters. \u201cI have to find everybody and say, \u2018thank you.\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n He said he started working at Meijer, a big-box store with groceries, clothes and other items, at age 82.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI talk to everybody that came through my cashier line because it helped me not become despondent on her loss. \u2026 I gave them a piece of my life story,\u201d Bambas said, referring to his wife.\n <\/p>\n
\n Lexi Wallace, 26, who used to be a regular customer before moving away, went on Weidenhofer\u2019s Facebook page and urged him to find Bambas.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI thought his name was Bob. He never corrected me,\u201d Wallace said. \u201cI would love going to Meijer to see him.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Weidenhofer said Bambas will be able to clear $225,000 in debt with the windfall. How he spends the rest of the money is totally up to him.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt feels like a dream,\u201d Weidenhofer said.\n <\/p>\n
\n Bambas wants to travel to see his brother and pick up golf again. As for work, he\u2019s not quitting his cashier post yet.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019ll probably work another month or two and shut things down,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brighton, Michigan AP \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Ed Bambas will soon ring up his last can of corn. The 88-year-old Michigan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[114,268,85,46,266,267],"class_list":{"0":"post-175402","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}