Hundreds of thousands raised for retiree working as DoorDash driver to pay for meds
· Toronto Sun
Generosity knows no bounds for an elderly Tennessee man who was forced to come out of retirement and work as a DoorDash driver to pay for his wife’s medication.
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Richard Pulley, 78, was captured on doorbell video on Tuesday morning carefully making his way to Brittany Smith’s stoop with her Starbucks order.
He is seen cautiously taking one step at a time, hesitating for a moment, slowly bending to leave her order at the door before turning around and making his way down the steps and back to his car.
The woman shared the video on her TikTok , pleading with her community to help locate “Richard the Starbucks Delivery Man.”
Found him!
She discovered his identity a few hours later and launched a GoFundMe campaign for him upon learning the retiree had to start working again after his wife was fired.
“By the time they pay their monthly expenses plus purchase their medication, there is nothing left,” the fundraising page reads. “Let’s help Richard go back into retirement!!”
Smith initially set a goal of $20,000 but the page has attracted donations from around the world and reached more than $300,000 in just over 24 hours.
As of publication, more than $578,000 had been raised of its new goal $600,000.
Back to work
Richard and wife Brenda have been tag-teaming DoorDash deliveries for more than a year after she lost her job, with Brenda behind the wheel and Richard doing the door dropoffs.
“When you’re past your mid-70s, there’s not exactly a line of people waiting to hire you,” Brenda told WSMV .
“With just one income in the family, you have to push… Just losing that, we had to supplement it,” Richard explained.
Smith arranged a meeting with the couple on Thursday to share the latest donation total.
Kindness of strangers
The couple was shocked by the kindness of people who simply wanted to see them enjoy their retirement.
“It’s just really difficult to believe that there’s that many people that are that generous to try to help us, people that don’t even know us,” Brenda told the outlet.
The couple, who have been married for 56 years, plan to use the funds to slow down and reduce the financial stress.
“Sometimes you just look at all the things that you need to pay … because if it don’t, you’re going to end up in the hospital … with something even more expensive than that,” said Brenda, who revealed she pays thousands of dollars in medical costs a year.
“It takes off a lot. It really does,” she said.
The couple called Smith “remarkable” for going out of her way to find them.
“I just can’t believe that someone would be that caring to set this up for us,” Brenda said.
Richard added: “We appreciate every one of them. It’s taking a lot of pressure off of us and making life livable once again.”