The video is only 15 seconds long. An older woman in a Walmart uniform rests in the employee break room while on-screen text says: “Life shouldn’t be this hard”.
Devan Bonagura, a 19-year-old TikToker from New Jersey, filmed her in November 2022. Her name was Nola Carpenter, she was 81 years old, and she was still working. Encouraged by the comments, he started a GoFundMe campaign that same day, with a goal of 10,000 dollars. In less than 24 hours, it had already raised more than 100,000. The video surpassed 27 million views.
The final amount came to around 183,202, contributed by more than 13,000 donors. Among them was Jacob Curran, a former Walmart employee, who donated $50 and wrote that no one should have to work at that age just to survive.
When Devan met with Nola, she thanked him for the gesture, but said she still needed around 60,000 to pay off her mortgage and would keep working.
