More than $365,000 has been raised for a 90-year-old disabled Air Force veteran living in New Hampshire after a TikTok user filmed him pawning jewelry so he could pay rent for himself and his wife with dementia to avoid eviction.
TikToker Jenelle Marie met up with the man, identified as Donald, at US Gold and Pawn in Manchester, where he told her about his financial situation.
Donald explained that he was struggling to pay bills after his landlord raised the rent and that his wife had recently been diagnosed with dementia. He said he feared being displaced and the possibility that his wife might be forced into a nursing home.
Marie has set up a GoFundMe page to help ease Donald's financial stress. The fundraising campaign has raised more than $365,000 as of Monday morning.
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Donald said he was struggling to keep up with his bills after his landlord raised the rent. (GoFundMe)
Shortly after the fundraiser began, she posted a video on TikTok handing Donald an envelope containing the $1,200 that had been raised at that point.
At first Donald was reluctant to accept the money, but Marie insisted.
With the $1,200, she was able to keep the jewelry she had pawned and pay off her debt to the owner.
“You're an angel in disguise, you really are,” he told Marie. “I don't know what to say, I really don't know what to say.”
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“This is the best birthday present anyone has ever received,” said Donald, who turns 91 on Aug. 25.
Marie wrote on the GoFundMe page that it was “a truly beautiful and emotional moment” and “something I will never forget” as she was told the fundraiser had raised $164,000 at the time.
“He kindly said he could never thank us or the people who donated,” she wrote. “He said I didn't deserve it. I was 'just an ordinary man,' but we explained to him that he is so much more than that!”
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She said the fundraiser would remain open until she and Donald can meet with a lawyer and figure out how to put the money into a secure account that Donald can access.
Marie wrote that “we are so amazed by all the goodness that exists in the world that we rarely hear about. You are ALL angels in disguise and THIS kind of love is what this world needs.”
