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TikToker raises almost $170,000 to help elderly Walmart employee retire
In just 24 hours, the GoFundMe page had raised over $100,000
November 11, 2022 9:54pm
Updated: November 11, 2022 9:54pm
A TikToker raised more than $170,000 to help an elderly Walmart employee to retire.
Devan Bonagura, known as Dbon973_ on TikTok, posted a 15-second video on November 3 of a Walmart employee identified as Nola by her name tag. Nola, an elderly woman, can be seen in the company’s break room.
“Life shouldn’t be this hard,” Bonagura wrote in his post, which has been viewed more than 24.1 million times on the app.
@dbon973_ :/ I feel bad. #fyp #blowthisup #sad #walmart ♬ Jocelyn Flores - XXXTENTACION
Encouraged by the comments from other TikTok users, Bonagura set up a GoFundMe for Nola the same day.
In just 24 hours, the GoFundMe page had raised over $100,000.
On November 5, Bonagura shared another video of him meeting with Nola to transfer the GoFundMe account.
"They saw that you're a very hard worker, obviously," he told the woman. "We are all super proud of you, and we wanted to offer you the $110,000 that has been raised for you."
"I'd accept it, but I'd still have to work until I get the other $60,000 paid off the house," she responded, saying that the sum would definitely help and that it wouldn’t “take long now” to save up the remaining amount.
TikTok users stepped in once again. At the time of writing, the GoFundMe is at $172,875, giving Nola the needed funds to retire.
Bonagura clarified later that he didn’t work for Walmart, but instead works for a third-party company that sells products to the retailer.
According to Bonagura, Walmart said that they were receiving threats because of the videos and urged him to delete them and give back all of the money.
"They're getting a lot of backlash, so they told me I need to delete the video and delete the GoFundMe and return all the money to the people that donated it or they're going to get the cops involved," he said in a November 4 video. "So, I told them to do what you have to do because I'm getting this money to this woman one way or another."
As a result of his actions to help Nola, Bonagura told viewers in another video that his employer suspended him with pay.
