You have to see this! Fundraiser brings in nearly $2 million to help Michigan veteran retire

SURPRISE OF A LIFETIME — An 88-year-old veteran is now able to retire thanks to strangers that came together and raised almost $2 million to help him.

Ed Bambas quickly captured the hearts of people across the world after a video of him was shared by Australian influencer Samuel Weidenhofer last week. Weidenhofer flew 9,000 miles to visit a Detroit grocery store that Bambas works at.

In the video, Weidenhofer is standing at a checkout stand with a drink when he asks Bambas if he can help him scan the item. Bambas walks over and that’s when Weidenhofer asks what his name is.

Little did Bambas know, his life was about to change.

“I actually had someone nominate you from this store and said you’re very hardworking,” Weidenhofer mentions to Bambas.

“Well I try to be,” Bambas responds back.

He goes on to tell Weidenhofer that he’s 88 years old. He explains that he retired from General Motors in 1999 but in 2012 they went bankrupt and they took his pension away. His wife was sick at the time.

“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 $10,000 of my life insurance,” Bambas said through tears. “So I sold my house, sold the property I had, and we made it through.”

Bambas’s wife ended up dying seven years ago and since then, Bambas said he’s been trying to “re-establish himself.” In the video he says he works five days a week, eight hours a day, because he doesn’t have enough income without the job.

Weidenhofer then asks Bambas, “What’s your dream?”

Bambas says, “Live a little of somewhat the life I was hoping for.”

Weidenhofer tells him he’d like to share his story and try to get people to help him retire. Bambas thanks him and begins crying. Weidenhofer then hands him $400 as a tip and an emotional Bambas thanks him again and tells him it’ll go a long way to help him.

After that encounter, Weidenhofer quickly launched a GofundMe for Bambas. He announced on his social media that in less than 36 hours, over $1 million had been raised.

Over the weekend, Weidenhofer shared another video of him surprising Bambas with a check for $1.77 million.

“I cannot express in any words how thankful I am to all the people,” Bambas said to reporters after the donation reveal.

On Monday, GoFundMe posted online that there were 65,000 donors who contributed to Bambas’s GoFundMe.

“Stories like this remind us what people can do for one another, and the power we all have inside us, when we show up for folks who need a hand,” GoFundMe wrote. “Thank you to anyone who played a part in this special moment.”

As of Monday evening, the GoFundMe was at $1,910,024.