A viral crowdfunding campaign has raised more than $900,000 to help 78-year-old DoorDash delivery man Richard Pulley retire permanently. Within days, donations surged from thousands of contributors around the world, with the total currently nearling $1 million.
The funds give Pulley and his wife, Brenda, the means to pay off medical bills, secure their home, and stop working. He has since been able to cease driving. The couple, married for nearly 56 years, said the support would dramatically ease pressure on their household and make day-to-day life livable again.
The chain of events started when customer Brittany Smith viewed a home security video that showed Pulley appearing exhausted as he climbed stairs to deliver a Starbucks order in Manchester, Tennessee. She worried about why an older man was doing such a physically demanding job, tracked him down, learned about his financial situation, and launched a GoFundMe titled “Give Richard a Chance to Rest Again” with a modest initial goal.
“He should be at home, just chilling”
“He should be at home, just chilling... but working? No, like, I don’t know. We need to help him,” Smith said. The campaign quickly went viral, with contributions flowing in from across the globe. Smith later met Pulley and his wife at a local burger restaurant to show them the fundraiser’s progress and gave him a $200 tip.
Pulley had retired 13 years earlier but returned to work after his wife lost her job. He took on up to 12-hour shifts delivering food to supplement their income and cover household bills, including her medication. “I needed to supplement our income so I started working through DoorDash and it allowed us to pay our bills,” he said, according to CBS News.
As the fundraiser grew, Pulley said the support would significantly reduce household pressure, with the funds earmarked to eliminate medical debts, keep their home secure, and allow the couple to retire permanently.
Pulley’s circumstances are cited as emblematic of financial strains that many older Americans face, pushing some to continue working long after retiring in order to meet basic needs. A similar case surfaced in December when Ed Bambas, an 88-year-old veteran in Michigan working as a supermarket cashier to pay bills after his wife’s death, drew donations from tens of thousands of people after his story went viral and a fundraising effort was organized on his behalf.
This article was produced with the assistance of a news discovery technology.