An 82-year-old Walmart cashier working 40-hour weeks retired on Wednesday after a TikToker raised more than $100,000 for the U.S. Navy veteran.
Butch Marion was filmed at work in a Maryland Walmart by a customer, Rory McCarty. McCarty recalled a TikTok video that helped raised enough money for a different elderly Walmart employee to retire, and he wanted to do something similar for Marion.
“82yr old Butch still putting in work. Has anybody seen the videos where a guy raised 180g’s to help and 82yr old Walmart employee retire. We ought to do that for Butch. Who would donate?” McCarty captioned the TikTok video.
The video received millions of views, and donations for Marion came pouring in to the GoFundMe page set up by McCarty.
“As a business owner and knowing how hard it’s been to try to find good help for my business. I was astounded seeing this little older man still grinding,” McCarty wrote about Marion on the GoFundMe page. “Get him off his feet for 8 hrs at a time.”
With over 5,700 donations, McCarty has raised more than $140,000 for Marion.
According to Fox News, Marion, a father and grandfather, left his job at General Motors to help take care of his ex-wife’s husband. When the husband died, Marion took care of his ex-wife until she died, and then returned to work.
Marion says he will use the money to pay off bills and travel to Florida to visit his daughter and grandchildren for the first time in years, per Fox News.
“All I can tell you is the good Lord has blessed me for what I did in my younger years,” Marion said, per the BBC.