A Ring camera in Manchester, Tennessee, captured a delivery that went viral and led to thousands of strangers helping change a man’s life.
The video shows a 78-year-old man named Richard slowly climbing the steps up to a home.
“He should be at home, just chilling, exercising a couple times a day to like … to keep his mobility, but working? No, like, I don’t know. We need to help him,” the homeowner, Brittany Smith, said about Richard in a video she posted to social media.
Smith almost never checks her doorbell camera, but that day her ex-husband, who is a quadriplegic, had sent their daughter a Starbucks treat.
After watching the delivery video, Smith and her ex-husband both decided they needed to track down Richard.
“I was furious. I was like, I know this poor old man is not bringing my very able daughter Starbucks,” Smith said.
Someone recognized Richard and was able to give Smith his last name.
Smith drove around looking for the car that was in the video and found it. Richard lives five minutes away. She knocked on his door and handed him a $200 tip for the delivery to her home.
Richard sold insurance and retired 13 years ago, but after his wife lost her job, he went back to work delivering food – sometimes for 12 hours a day.
“I needed to supplement our income so I started working through DoorDash and it allowed us to pay our bills,” he said.
At first, Smith thought the tip would be just enough, but people online had another idea. Smith said she received “hundreds and thousands of messages” asking her to start a GoFundMe page for him.
The next morning, she did and called it Give Richard a Chance to Rest Again.
In five days, strangers raised almost $1 million for Richard and his wife, who’ve been married for nearly 56 years.
“It’s just really difficult to believe that there’s that many people that are that generous to … try to help us and people that don’t even know us,” Richard’s wife, Brenda, said.
Richard is grateful for the support. He says he wants to continue delivering, but not as often – saying working makes him feel better.
“It’s important to do the best you can and help people. If you help people and do right, you’ll succeed,” he said.