Elderly DoorDash driver Richard Pulley receives almost $1M from strangers after viral video, he has no plans to retire.
Even nearly $1 million in donations can’t get 78-year-old DoorDash driver Richard Pulley to retire.
Pulley received a life-changing check totaling $965,868 on Friday — just weeks after a viral video showed him carefully climbing steps to deliver an order to a Starbucks in East Tennessee.
The video, shared by customer Brittany Smith, captured Pulley with her Ring doorbell going above and beyond in her delivery.
It quickly went viral and inspired strangers to pour into a massive fundraiser aimed at giving Pulley and his wife Brenda, who often tags along on deliveries, a break from debt and medical expenses.
“My wife was working for an insurance company and they ended up giving her up,” Pulley told TODAY.com, adding that even with Social Security, they are struggling to pay for their medications and bills.
“When he left, it was really stressful to pay the bills. I got lazy. You know, when we turned 65 and retired … I wasn’t doing much, but all of a sudden, I had to start working.”
Pulley dove headfirst into gig work, filling nearly 6,000 DoorDash orders, often with Brenda riding shotgun.
This job gave him a purpose and a reason to keep moving, even though viral fame was catching up with him.
“The last few shifts have been hard work because people stop and take pictures with me and all kinds of things,” he said. “I’ll be back at work in the next few days.”
Besides the overwhelming generosity of strangers, Pulley says the work itself is part of why she keeps going.
“They have set me up well for my wife and I to live a comfortable life, but after a week or two of this cooling off, we will go back to work because I feel useful,” he said.
The fundraiser, titled “Give Richard Another Chance to Rest,” generated more than 32,000 donations, including a $20,000 donation from DoorDash CEO Tony Xu, who praised Pulley for his thousands of deliveries.
Smith, who helped spark the campaign, joined the couple at a burger joint last week to demonstrate the impact of the donations.
Married for more than 56 years, the Pulleys have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of generosity.
“It’s really hard to believe that there are so many people who are so kind to try to help us,” Pulley told WSMV. “It takes a lot of pressure off and makes life come alive again.”
Brenda added, “Sometimes you look at all the bills you need to pay … if [you] don’t do that, you will end up in the hospital and something very expensive.”
