(NewsNation) — A woman who works in a pawn shop raised over $400,000 for an Air Force veteran who was forced to sell jewelry to pay rent and take care of his wife who has dementia.
Donald, a 90-year-old Air Force veteran, brought jewelry into the pawn shop in New Hampshire where he met Jenelle Marie, who works in the store. Marie told NewsNation’s “Morning in America” that she was curious why a 90-year-old veteran needed to sell jewelry, so she asked him about it.
“He told me that his wife had just got diagnosed with dementia and his landlord had to raise his rent on him, so it kind of pulled on my heartstrings,” Marie said. “I told the owner of the shop and he decided he wasn’t going to collect interest from him … I thought that was really kind of him, and it kind of inspired me and my fiancé to start what I thought was just going to be a little GoFundMe.”
The original fundraiser garnered $1,300, and Marie posted the video of her giving Donald the money online on TikTok. This video went viral, and the GoFundMe ended up raising over $411,000.
“I think it just pulled on everyone’s heartstrings,” Marie said. “It went viral on TikTok, and next thing you know people from around the world were coming in with donations on GoFundMe in support of him.”
Marie said that when she told him he had gone viral, he was very emotional. She hopes that people learn two things from this experience.
“I hope two lessons: one is the smallest act of kindness can really change someone’s life in more ways than you could ever imagine, and the other is just to raise awareness that we have to do better for our veterans,” Marie said.
Marie and her fiancé are helping Donald and his wife find a new, more affordable place to live in the area.