After a 78-Year-Old DoorDash Driver Delivered Her Order, One Woman Raised Over $500K to Help Him Retire

He should have been enjoying retirement. Instead, one evening, 78-year-old Richard Pulley was slowly making his way up a stranger’s porch steps, delivering a Starbucks order through DoorDash.

A doorbell camera captured the moment. Using the handrail for support, Richard carefully climbed the steps one at a time before gently placing the order at the door. The video quickly spread across social media, drawing more than a million views—and touching hearts across the country.

The woman who received the delivery, Brittany Smith, couldn’t stop thinking about him.

“Help me find this precious man!” she wrote on Facebook after posting the footage. “Why is he having to DoorDash – his name is Richard! Help me find him.”

Smith soon tracked Richard down and learned the difficult reason he was still working. After his wife Brenda lost her job through no fault of her own, the couple struggled to make ends meet. With monthly bills, medication costs, and everyday expenses piling up, Richard came out of retirement to help support them.

For more than a year, the couple worked together making deliveries. Brenda drove the car while Richard walked the food to customers’ doors.

“When you’re past your mid-70s, there’s not exactly a line of people waiting to hire you,” Brenda told NBC affiliate WSMV.

Seeing how difficult the work was for Richard, Smith decided she couldn’t simply scroll past the moment and move on. She started a GoFundMe campaign, hoping to raise enough money so the couple could return to retirement.

What happened next stunned everyone.

Within just two days, strangers from around the world had donated more than $500,000.

Soon after, Smith met Richard and Brenda in person at a restaurant in Manchester, Tennessee, where she shared the incredible news.

“It’s taking a lot of pressure off of us,” Richard said during an interview with WSMV. “And making life livable once again.”

Both he and Brenda were overwhelmed by the kindness of people they had never met.

“It’s just really difficult to believe that there’s that many people that are that generous to try to help us,” Brenda said. “People that don’t even know us.”

As of March 13, the fundraiser had surpassed $532,000—more than enough to allow the longtime couple to slow down and finally enjoy their retirement together.

“We appreciate every one of them,” Richard said of the thousands who donated.

For Brittany Smith, the moment felt deeply personal.

“I don’t know. It’s just I love this man,” she told WSMV.

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