This is a poignant story of how an influencer brought an elderly couple from their misery. One day, Janelle Marie saw a 90-year-old veteran putting up his jewelry as collateral. The actress and TikTok blogger felt sorry for the man, who introduced himself as Donald, especially after the veteran told her the full story.
Because Donald’s rent payment had been raised, the man had to get by with whatever limited resources he and his wife had. They were barely making ends meet. There was very little financial support in their life, so the elderly couple had to make do with whatever they had to sustain themselves. This is when the man started pawning old family heirlooms. To make matters worse, Donald’s wife had dementia and the old veteran was fearing not only eviction but her potentially being put into a retirement home.
Upon hearing the story, Janelle, her fiance, and several other people instantly raised about 1,200 dollars and gave him the envelope. The old man was overtaken with joy; he didn’t know that such kindness existed in this world. From that moment on, Donald referred to Janelle as “an angel in disguise”. With this money, the man managed to cover almost all his debt and claim back all his jewelry.
And this is far from the end, the story grows into something even more beautiful. Janelle Marie and her friends started a GoFundMe fundraiser campaign to help Donald and his wife in their time of need. Thousands of people chipped in once they heard the story. The celebrity also posted a TikTok video trying to get more people involved. Her subscribers and other helpful strangers didn’t let the man down: on August 9, 2024, the veteran received a giant cheque for 250,000 US dollars raised by the foundation. Donald was over the moon with joy. This reaffirmed his faith in humanity and he once again called these people angels.
As of now, the GoFundMe page has yielded over 360,000 dollars and the money still keeps coming in. Donald says this was the best birthday gift God has ever given him. In just a few days, the man will turn 91. Despite such a respectable age, this does seem like a new beginning in the man’s life, a fascinating chapter he is about to step into.
The fundraising campaign will be open until the veteran and his lawyer find a way to create a safe bank account so Donald can withdraw money from it at any time. Both Marie and Donald are astounded by how kind people can be and how much it means when we are facing challenges together. The veteran and his wife have given numerous speeches of gratitude and they mean them from their whole hearts.
The Olertis team congratulates Donald and his wife with such an extraordinary example of kindness that the world has shown to them. But we can’t help but raise the question of how many Donalds are there in the world. And how many people have it even worse than Donald had when he walked in through the doors of that pawnshop, thinking that he had no way out but to give up his family heirlooms?
Well, the statistics are actually quite grim, as they say, that around 5 billion people worldwide have issues accessing basic human needs such as clean water, food, and housing. And Donald had all three of those when he walked in through that door. Does that mean our kindness was misplaced? Actually, no. But what this story teaches us is that there is a long way to go to make life on Earth at least moderately comfortable for most humans. And the next time you write a check for a big jewelry purchase you might want to think about those people. However, we don’t want to guilt anybody out of buying jewelry pieces but at least any time you buy one you can appreciate what an extraordinary gift this is and maybe you can chip in on some humanitarian cause. Whatever glimpse of realization you just had, we’ll leave you to it. Let’s all have faith that humanity will find a way to help millions of Donalds across the globe, and let this one just serve as inspiration. May we live in a world where there’s peace and prosperity for all.
