More than $320,000 has been raised online for a 90-year-old Air Force veteran who was recently filmed at a pawn shop trying to unload jewelry so he could pay his back rent, sparing him and his wife with dementia from eviction.
TikToker Jenelle Marie started the GoFundMe for the New Hampshire man, who was identified only as Donald.
Marie ran into Donald at U.S. Gold and Pawn in Manchester, and he told her about his trying situation.
Donald told Marie he’s been caring for his ailing wife, and fell behind on his rent, after his landlord increased it.
“He’s deathly afraid he’s going to be displaced and that they are going to make his wife go to a home,” she explained.
She posted a video prior to the fundraiser taking off, in which she handed Donald an envelope with the $1,200 she’d raised that point.
“I could kiss you,” Donald said, as the tears welled up. “Oh my goodness.”
Donald even tells Marie he can’t take the cash from her. But she insists.
“I know your struggling, I know you’re trying to take care of your wife,” she said. “I appreciate your [military] service.”
Donald was able to keep the jewelry thanks to the $1,200. He also paid off his debt to his landlord, with $80 leftover.
“You’re an angel in disguise, you really are,” he tells Marie. “I don’t know what to say, I really don’t know what to say.”
“This is the best birthday present anyone has every had,” added Donald, who turns 91 on August 25.
Marie is also helping the couple find more stable housing, she said.