Michigan
Veteran working full-time at grocery store goes viral as social media rallies to help him
- In a now-viral post, 88-year-old Ed Bambas explained that he retired from General Motors in 1999 but later lost his pension and now works at a Michigan grocery store “to re-establish myself.”
By Alex Dvorak
• Published December 3, 2025 • Updated on December 4, 2025 at 1:46 pm
*** begin quote ***
Ed Bambas doesn’t know he’s become an internet sensation, but he’s about to find out just how much his story has resonated on social media.
The 88-year-old veteran working a full-time job at a Michigan grocery store is now at the center of a social media movement aiming to help him retire, with more than $1.2 million raised as of Wednesday.
In a post from Australian influencer Samuel Weidenhofer, Bambas explained that he retired as a salaried employee from General Motors in 1999, but lost his pension due to the company’s bankruptcy measures in 2012.
That year, the Old General Motors offered lump-sum payments to about 42,000 retirees and their surviving beneficiaries as they aimed to cut 24 percent from their U.S. pension obligation, NBC News reported at the time. NBC Chicago has not been able to confirm if Bambas was a part of those offerings.
Still, Bambas said his retirement quickly changed when his wife fell ill and he became her caregiver, leading to mounting medical bills.
“I sold my house, sold the property I had, and we made it through,” Bambas said through tears in the now-viral video. “My wife died seven years ago. Since then I’ve been trying to re-establish myself.”
*** end quote ***
I remember the GM bankruptcy.
https://reinkefaceslife.com/2009/07/06/goverotrageous-no-justice-in-the-governments-courts/
https://reinkefaceslife.com/2009/03/30/rant-a-failure-of-leadership-o-on-gm/
<<can’t find the blog post where the lost her 5k$ in GM bonds thanks to BHO44>>
Getting old sucks and going broke when you’re old is even worse.
Kudos to the Australian influencer Samuel Weidenhofer for picking up the story and all the folks who contributed to the GoFundMe.
— 30 —
Posted by reinkefj 
Reinke Faces Life 