- A TikToker Started a GoFundMe So an 81-Year-Old Walmart Worker Can Retire
- GoFundMe raised over $186,000 so Nola Carpenter could pay off her mortgage.
- Carpenter says she plans to retire but will help out at the store first over the holidays.
A week after a 15-second video of her went viral, 81-year-old Nola Carpenter said she might finally retire. But, first, she said she would be at Walmart to help with the holidays, the infamous shopping period.
Feather november 3, 19-year-old TikToker Devan Bonagura uploaded a video of Carpenter sitting at a break room table in a New Jersey Walmart, titled “Life shouldn’t be so hard,” on TikTok. It has been viewed more than 30 lakh times. (Bonagura later told the audience that he does not work at Walmart, but instead works for a third-party company that sells products at the retailer). Shortly afterwards, Bonagura made a GoFundMe Carpenter’s retirement.
Two days later Bonagura posted a video of himself meeting with the carpenter to move the account — totaling $110,000 in donations at the time — over to him.
Carpenter expressed thanks for the donation, saying that they would help her mortgage “go down”, but clarified that it would not be enough for her to retire, as the donors had intended. “I accept it,” she told him about the money, “but I still have to work until I get the other $60,000 down payment on the house.”
Feather Average wage at Walmart is $19 an hour An additional $60,000 would likely save the carpenter several more years of the 40-hour work week. For Carpenter, like millions of American workers with little savings, Retirement was not an option.
Feather 13 November, Bonagura posted a follow-up video with Carpenter as the GoFundMe shot up to $180,000—more than the total she said she would need to pay off her mortgage—from 13,500 donations. (As of the time of publication, it now stands at $186,653).
Carpenter told Bonagura that she was “delighted” about the generosity and thanked those who “spread the news” or donated so that she can now retire comfortably. “That’s what I was working at Walmart for—to pay off my house,” she explained.
Carpenter said she has been a Walmart employee for 20 years, and told Bonagura that she would miss the regulars. “I’m going to miss my customers. They look up to me every day.”
Despite the windfall, Carpenter doesn’t plan to “fully retire” until January. “I’m going to help them out for the holidays, and then it’ll be nice to be home.”
Nola Carpenter and Devan Bonagura did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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