88-Year-Old Army Vet Gets Surprise Of A Lifetime When Strangers Raise $1.77 Million For His Retirement
on Dec 10, 2025
Meet Veteran And Humble Grocery Store Clerk, Ed Bambas
Michigan resident Ed Bambas went to work for his shift at the local grocery store one day, unaware that his life was about to change in a profound way.
Internet personality Samuel Weidenhofer has built a platform centered on spreading kindness. He learned about Bambas, an 88-year-old Army veteran who works at a Meijer grocery store outside of Detroit to make ends meet, and paid him a visit.
Weidenhofer shared the video of his interaction with the gentleman with his nearly 8 million followers. In it, Bambas tells the story of how he retired from General Motors in 1999, but lost his pension when the company went bankrupt in 2012.
His wife was sick at the time, and Bambas had to take drastic measures, including selling his house, to cover her medical expenses. He held back tears, and he shared:
“The thing that hurt me the most was when my wife was really sick, and when they took the pension, they also took the health care coverage and all but like $10,000 of my life insurance.”
Bambas shared that his wife passed away in 2018, and since then, he has continued to work full-time out of necessity. Hear his story in the video below.
@itssozer 88 year old veteran still working.. 😭❤️ (donate in B1O) #love #kind #veteran ♬ original sound – Samuel Weidenhofer
Millions Of Strangers Rally To Help Ed Bambas Retire
As the video went viral, Weidenhofer and his team set up a GoFundMe campaign for those who wished to help Bambas retire. It quickly became one of the largest individual fundraisers in GoFundMe history.
Within 24 hours, $800,000 had been raised. By the end of the week, that number had reached $1.7 million.
Ed Bambas Surprised With $1.77 Million Check
On Friday, December 5th, Samuel Weidenhofer reunited with his new friend to share with him the generosity of millions of strangers. Since their initial meeting, the influencer had learned that Bambas was roughly $225,000 in debt to his late wife’s medical bills.
Additionally, the senior admitted that his brother and his wife both have cancer, but he has not had the funds to be able to visit them.
Weidenhofer then shares with Bambas that, if he wants, he will be able to retire thanks to the generous support of online viewers. A check for $1.77 million is revealed, and the sweet man is overcome with emotion.
“It’s something that dreams are made of, trust me,” said Bambas through tears.
Additionally, a financial advisor will offer their services free of charge to set up a trust for Bambas, help him resolve his debt, and manage his new funds appropriately.
Watch Ed Bambas receive the life-changing news in the emotional video below.
@itssozer Ed is 88. A Veteran. A man who kept working because of $225K+ in debt he didn’t want to leave to his family. ❤️ And today… we handed him a check for $1.77 million. He cried. We cried. And his life is forever changed. 🥹❤️ Thank you to everyone who made this miracle possible. This is so much bigger than Ed, it’s proof that humanity is still beautiful… #love #kind #veteran ♬ original sound – Samuel Weidenhofer
