Brittany had only ordered a coffee. When she checked her home camera, she ended up seeing something she couldn’t get out of her head.
The delivery driver was Richard Pulley, a 78-year-old man who struggled to climb the stairs to drop off the order. Intrigued, Brittany Smith found out who he was and discovered that Richard was already retired, but had had to go back to work after his wife lost her job.
For more than a year, the two had been making deliveries to cover basic expenses, medication, and rent. Their income simply wasn’t enough anymore.
Brittany decided to create a campaign called “Give Richard a Chance to Rest Again”, hoping to raise some money to help them get through the month. But the internet took the story much further.
In just three days, donations topped US$500,000. Then thousands of people from different places joined in, and even DoorDash’s CEO contributed US$20,000. The total ended up approaching US$965,000.
Richard could hardly believe it.
“It’s taking a lot of pressure off and making life livable again”, he said. The money would allow them to pay medical debts, secure their housing and, this time, actually stop doing physically demanding jobs.
It all started with a coffee delivery that took a few minutes and ended up giving a retired couple something they thought they had lost: the chance to truly rest.