A TikToker helped raise over $129,000 for an 82-year-old Walmart worker who said she had to work to pay her medical bills
- A TikToker raised over $129,000 for an 82-year-old Walmart worker to help with medical bills.
- The donations came after a video about her story went viral, receiving 14 million views.
TikTok viewers have donated over $100,000 to an elderly Walmart worker who went viral after a creator set up a fundraising page to help her pay her medical bills.
On December 13, a TikTok user who goes by @rustywarrenknockersupgal uploaded a video of a woman in a Walmart uniform standing beside a cart with a cane inside. The on-screen caption of the video read, "Walmart 82yr old with a cane working for medical bills not allowed to sit, please help," followed by a GoFundMe link.
The woman can be heard saying she's 82. "Do you need to work?" asks the creator, to which she smiles and says yes.
"I'm gonna put you on TikTok. The last lady on TikTok with Walmart, she raised $110,000," the person behind the camera said, before she implored her followers to "help her out" by donating to her GoFundMe page. The creator was likely referring to the success of a similar fundraiser launched in November which raised over $186,000 to help an 81-year-old Walmart worker called Nola Carpenter retire after it went hugely viral on TikTok.
And the plan worked — the recent video was viewed over 14.9 million times and the GoFundMe page named "Carmen from Walmart Medical Bills" has raised over $129,000, far exceeding its goal of $10,000. "I asked Carmen why she was working at 82 and she said because of her high medical bills," the description of the fundraising page said.
One person who donated $200 left a comment saying, "This is clearly a lady in need of help. We all should do our part. One day we may find ourselves in similar circumstances. Give what you can."
The Walmart worker was interviewed by Arizona's Family, a local CBS affiliate. She was identified as Carman Kelly, who has been working as a greeter at the store for two years, and "absolutely loves it," according to the outlet, but said she needed help to pay her medical bills. When she was shown the outcome of the GoFundMe, Kelly expressed shock, saying, "Oh my lord, I can't believe this. I'm like a millionaire."
In a statement to Arizona's Family, Walmart said, "We honor reasonable accommodations and have a long history of working with associates with disabilities." Neither Walmart nor the TikTok creator immediately responded to Insider's requests for comment.
Kelly's story is part of an emerging trend that appears to have been kickstarted when the story of Carpenter's retirement thanks to the GoFundMe went viral.
On December 17, 53-year-old TikToker Rory McCarty filmed an interaction with an 82-year-old Walmart employee named Butch in LaVale, Maryland. McCarty explained to Butch that other workers had gone viral on TikTok and received fundraising donations as a result.
On December 19, McCarty set up a GoFundMe page called "Butch" which has raised $77,520 to date, as part of a goal to reach $100,000.
"I wanted to help this Navy Veteran to live the remainder of his years traveling to see his kids in Florida. Get him off his feet for 8 hrs at a time. And do the things he would love to do that he may not be able to for financial reasons," the description of the fundraiser said.
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