Overview
- Australian influencer Samuel Weidenhofer located Ed Bambas at a Meijer in Brighton, Michigan, filmed a brief interview, and launched the GoFundMe on Dec. 1.
- Organizers say they will present the money to Bambas at the store today in a surprise event, with 100% of the funds designated for him.
- Meijer confirmed Bambas’s long tenure and said it is giving him no‑cost financial planning to help manage the contributions.
- Bambas’s son says his father does not know the total raised; he has worked five eight‑hour shifts weekly for years after losing his GM pension and caring for his late wife.
- The fundraiser drew tens of thousands of donations in days, with reported totals climbing from roughly $1.2 million to more than $1.7 million as of this morning.