Pawn shop employee's kind gesture to struggling veteran inspires community in the best way

Help often comes from the most unexpected places, as 91-year-old Donald, a war veteran, discovered. Struggling with a rent increase, Donald had been pawning his wife’s jewelry while caring for her. Jenelle Marie, a New Hampshire resident and TikTok user (@jenellemarie0212), noticed him at the U.S. Gold & Pawn in Manchester, where she works. Moved by his story, she shared a video of the heartwarming moment when Donald received an envelope with $1,300. “Oh my gosh! This is fabulous,” he exclaimed, his eyes lighting up. “This is so thoughtful of you,” he added.

Donald, a former Air Force pilot, has been married for over 60 years and is now his wife’s primary caregiver. Touched by his story, Jenelle spoke about Donald and his financial struggles with the pawnshop owner who suggested taking the interest off the amount Donald borrowed. In the video, the man can be seen at a loss for words when he discovers cash tucked in the envelope given to him by the lady. After struggling for words he finally tells her, "I can't let you do this for me," to which Jenelle says that the money didn't only come out of her pocket and that it was donated by 25 people including her fiance. "I could never thank you for this, bless your heart. I am so excited I don't know what I am doing," he tells Jenelle. "This is the best birthday present anybody ever had," Donald says. "God bless you for this."

"You are an angel in disguise, I could never thank you," Donald was heard telling Jenelle in the video. Fortunately, good luck didn't stop there for Donald. After Jenelle posted the video on TikTok, the video went viral, generating more than 14 million views and 1.8 million likes. This was when she realized that people were starting to donate on the GoFundMe page that she had put up for him. "So I'm at work and another hour goes by. I was busy with customers. I look at my TikTok again, and it's double the views, double the comments, double the likes, and double the money on the GoFundMe, at $5,000. I was like, ‘I cannot believe this.’ So now I have my friends and family texting me all day, ‘It's at $5,200, it's at $5,500.’ Everyone's giving me an update. I've never been viral anywhere," Jenelle told PEOPLE.

Many took to the video to talk about the act of kindness. "I’m balling my eyes out" wrote @hkymomma. "I work at the veterans affairs... I love our veterans" added @DeniseMichelleClevenger. The GoFundMe donations soon crossed a hundred thousand dollars and when it hit $136,000, Jenelle called Donald and asked him to visit the pawnshop so that she could tell him everything. She told him that she had not shut down GoFundMe after the initial $1,300 and shared that donations had been pouring in since then. "He just started crying," she said. "He put his head in his hands, and he was almost hyperventilating. I said that GoFundMe went from $1,300 to $136,000. He just started bawling his eyes out. He was really emotional, and he was just like, 'I am just an ordinary person. These veterans need this more than I do.' He's super, super humble," Jenelle added.

Speaking to the Local TVB station WMUR, Donald said, "I  think it restores my faith in humanity. I'm hoping that this will inspire people out there to maybe do something similar to help all of the rest of the unfortunate veterans that are out there because they desperately need help. They really do." So far more than 15.8k donations have been made on the GoFundMe page and the total has crossed $447,942. According to the GoFundMe page, Jenelle is currently looking at ways in which this money can be put in a safe account for Donald to access. 

You can follow Jenelle Marie (@jenellemarie0212 ) for more lifestyle content on TikTok.