Sometimes Social Media Isn't Such A Bad Place After All: People Came Together To Raise Over A Million Dollars For An 88-Year-Old Veteran Who Lost His Pension and Was Forced To Go Back To Work
Fox Detroit - A Metro Detroit senior citizen has become a viral sensation. At 88, most seniors are enjoying retirement, but Army veteran Edmund Bambas is working five days a week because he says he can't afford not to. However, help is on the way.
Big picture view: Bambas retired from General Motors in 1999 with eyes on no longer working. He had served in the U.S. Army for years before getting the job at the automaker.
"In 2012, they went bankrupt and took my pension away from me," he said.
"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," he said. "So I sold the house. Sold the property I had, and we made it through."
Bambas said his wife died seven years ago.
"She developed atrial fibrillation," he said.
Since then, he's been trying to reestablish himself. He doesn't have enough income on his own, which is why he now spends a big chunk of his week on his feet, working.
Ed says his monthly pension payout from his days working at GM is not enough to live on.
"I get $300 from that pension, that's all," he said. "I didn't have enough money to survive."
So, after serving his country, raising a family, and caring for his wife, this senior now works five days a week at the Meijer in Brighton on Grand River. If Bambas could retire, his dream would be to "live a little of somewhat the life I was hoping for."
Then, when two social media influencers, Mike McKinstry and Samuel Weidenhofer, heard about Ed, they paid him a visit.
"We put out a little fundraiser, and we're going to see where it goes," said McKinstry. "We wanted to share his story and get some more awareness out there and hopefully start a GoFundMe fundraiser."
To kick it off, Weidenhofer tipped Edmund $400. As of Wednesday morning, the GoFundMe has eclipsed the $1 million goal with the help of tens of thousands of donations.
Still shocked by the compassion, Edmund is thankful for all the kindness coming his way.
"It's inspiring for me personally to see a story and see what he does every day. I think everyone around the world is kind of
This is one of those stories that gives you hope for the human race. Especially around the holidays.
I'm not going to get sidetracked and talk about how insane the cost of living has become in this country, in relation to what we expect things like social security and assistance to cover. Or even things like pensions which were devised to ensure elderly people didn't have to work to survive right up until they die.
Nor am I going to talk about how regular average Americans in this country got stuck footing the bill for corporations, banks, and crooks who needed to be bailed out by federal tax dollars. Not only do we have nothing to show for it now that they're back in the black and profitable. But most people, like Ed, lost everything they spent their entire lives working for. Yet somehow, nobody went to jail. Nobody at the top in the C-Suites lost their jobs, or their bonuses, or their stock options. Nothing really changed for them.
No, I'm going to concentrate on the kindness that was shown to Ed Bambas by so many good people out there who saw his story and hit his GoFundMe and donated so that he could stop working his ass off, buy back his house he was forced to sell to pay for his wife's medical care before she died, and live the rest of his days as a retiree.
It's kind of the least we can do for a guy who served his country, no?
Props to this kid for spearheading the whole thing-
His name is Samuel Weidenhofer, and like a lot of young "influencers" today, he's got a ton of followers on social media. Except the really cool part is Samuel uses his platform specifially for good. And to help people out.
Just like he did in this case.
Samuel heard about Ed's story from a comment underneath one of his videos. So he immediately booked a flight to Michigan and teamed up with Detroit influencer Mike McKinstry to find Ed. Samuel said, "No 88-year-old in America should work because they need to, and that breaks my heart." Samuel started a GoFundMe on behalf of Ed, and in the span of two days, it has already raised over $1.3 million. More than 44,000 people from around the world donated so Ed could finally retire. And to think it all began with a single comment, a stranger who took action, and a community that showed up for Ed when he needed it most.
He flew to Detroit, tracked Mr. Bambas down, and met up with him on the job. Here is the original video.
If that doesn't get you right in the plums, I don't know what will. You better check your pulse.
Here's video of Mr. Bambas being interviewed and speaking about how thankful he is for everybody's kindness and generosity.
Hats off to Mr. Bambas. And to Samuel. And to everybody who donated to help this man out. This was a job well done internet.
Giphy Images.