To say that 2012 was a tough year for Ed Bambas is putting it extremely mildly. He lost his pension from General Motors, lost his family’s health care coverage at a time when his wife was sick, and said the company took all but $10,000 of his life insurance. He was forced to sell his home and all his property to help him and his wife survive. Bambas took a job at a Meijer outside of Detroit, Michigan in order to make ends meet.
That’s the story he recounted to Australian influencer Samuel Weidenhofer and his 7.8 million followers in a video posted to his TikTok on Dec. 1. A week later, Bambas had enough money to retire, the result of a GoFundMe campaign Weidenhofer started to help the 88-year-old Vietnam veteran achieve the dream of retiring and live “a little of somewhat the life I was hoping for.”
Bambas retired from General Motors in 1999 after 40 years, but the company went bankrupt in 2012. The federal government declined to bail out the carmaker, citing “failed leadership, unrealistic business plans, and a slow rate of reform” stemming from its earlier 2007 crisis. As a result, General Motors was forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
As part of its bankruptcy measures, GM offered lump-sum payments to some 42,000 retirees and their beneficiaries, a measure to cut 24% of its pension obligations. Bambas elected to receive a $300,000 payout of his pension.
The loss of health care coverage was catastrophic when his wife became ill. He became her caretaker, and medical bills began to flood their mailbox, to the ultimate tune of more than $225,000, all of which went to supporting his wife.
“We made it through,” Bambas told Weidenhofer.
“Mr. Bambas’ personal story is deeply moving, and it’s wonderful to see the outpouring of support for him,” Patrick Sullivan, a GM representative, said in a statement to We Are The Mighty. “We are grateful for what he has contributed to GM and to our country. While we don’t share details about individuals, in 2012 salaried GM retirees who were receiving monthly pension payments were given several options, including continuation of monthly lifetime payments or a lump sum payout, if they preferred. Additionally, starting in 2008, retirees older than 65 receive a $300 monthly lifetime payment for supplemental Medicare coverage.”
Bambas’ wife died seven years ago, he said in the original TikTok video. Now he works at a Meijer for eight hours a day, five days a week. Retirement was not on the horizon for the former autoworker. At least, it wasn’t on the day he met Samuel Weidenhofer. The influencer travels the world in an effort to meet people and help those in need. And upon talking to Ed Bambas, he set out to work. Weidenhofer started the GoFundMe campaign the same day the two met.
“Hey everyone, I just wanted to say the biggest thank you towards ED ever the support so far is absolutely immense, and I have thousands of GoFundMe messages, all of which I can’t respond to. There’s thousands!” Weidenhofer wrote. “However, I wanted to let you know that Ed will be added to receive the funds once we surprise him in four or five days . We are working tirelessly to make sure we set up a secure bank account or trust for him so the money is very safe and he can flourish in the best way possible.”
And surprise Ed, they did. In amounts of $6, $9, and $25, along with some as high as $500 and $10,000, 15,000 donors were able to surprise Bambas with $1.77 million by the time the next video was filmed on Dec. 9. The amount is currently $1.92 million. It became one of the largest individual GoFundMe campaigns ever.
“It’s something that dreams are made out of,” Bambas said in the big reveal video. “I cannot express in any words how thankful I am to all the people.”
Bambas isn’t quitting his job right away. He intends to wind down his time at Meijer “in a month or two. Weidenhofer has already moved on to helping another American; this time, it’s a 75-year-old Dollar Tree employee in Minnesota to avoid eviction.
If you like the idea of a “Kindness Influencer,” follow Samuel Weidenhofer @itssozer on TikTok or on Instagram.
This story was updated to include a statement from General Motors.
