A United States veteran who worked as a Walmart cashier is finally able to retire after an unlikely act of kindness.
Eighty-two-year-old Warren Marion a native of Cumberland in Maryland, took home a $108,682 cheque last week thanks to the generosity of some netizens.
This was after Rory McCarty, a small business owner with a big following on TikTok set up a GoFundMe for Mr Marion.
A video he posted of them both in December has been viewed over three million times.
According to Mr McCarty, he wanted to help the US Navy veteran and widower, to "do the things he would love to do."
He owns an extermination business called Bug Boys along with a popular TikTok account - he has some 300,000 followers - with the same name where he posts videos of crawling critters.
In his GoFundMe post launching the campaign last month, Mr McCarty said he felt inspired to use his account to help the elderly veteran having seen something similar on TikTok.
"As a business owner... I was astounded seeing this little older man still grinding. Working eight to nine-hour shifts," Mr McCarty said on the GoFundMe page.
The campaign went viral and was a huge success as other rallied to help the octogenarian.
Within days, Mr McCarty had met his goal to raise over $100,00 for the Walmart employee.
He said people continue to contribute and all proceeds will go to the veteran.
An excited Warren Marion was able to retire unexpectedly thanks to this act of generosity.
Last week, Mr Marion had his last day on the job after giving his two weeks' notice.
Local news media captured the new retiree walking into the Walmart parking lot with balloons and being greeted by the applause of loved ones.
When a journalist asked him how he felt about such a show of love and act of generosity when handed the cheque, was "wow".
He told the Cumberland Times News in December that the funds would pay off his house and allow him to travel to Florida to see his children.
"All I can tell you is the good Lord has blessed me for what I did in my younger years," Mr Marion told the newspaper.
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