Even nearly $1 million in donations can’t get 78-year-old DoorDash driver Richard Pulley to retire.

Pulley received the life-changing check that totaled $965,868 on Friday — just weeks after a viral video showed him carefully climbing steps to deliver a Starbucks order in Eastern Tennessee.

The video, shared by customer Brittany Smith, captured Pulley on her Ring doorbell going above and beyond on his deliveries.

It quickly went viral and inspired strangers to pour into the massive fundraiser aimed at giving Pulley and his wife Brenda, who often tags along on his deliveries, a break from bills and medical costs.

“My wife was working for an insurance company and they ended up letting her go,” Pulley told TODAY.com, adding that even with Social Security, they struggled to pay for her meds and their bills.

“When she left, it really put a pinch on us to pay bills. I had gotten lazy. You know, when we get 65 and retire … I wasn’t doing a lot, but all of a sudden, I had to get to work.”

Pulley dove headfirst into gig work, completing nearly 6,000 DoorDash orders, often with Brenda riding shotgun.

The work gave him purpose and a reason to keep moving, even as viral fame caught up with him.

“The last couple of shifts have worked out hard because people stop and take pictures with me and all sorts of things,” he said. “I’ll get back to work in the next few days.”

Despite the overwhelming generosity of strangers, Pulley says the work itself is part of why he keeps going.

“They’ve set my wife and I up so that we can live a more comfortable life, but after a week or two of this and it cools down, we’ll get back to work because I feel good being useful,” he said.

The fundraiser, titled “Give Richard a Chance to Rest Again,” has drawn more than 32,000 donations, including a $20,000 contribution from DoorDash CEO Tony Xu, who praised Pulley for his thousands of deliveries.

Smith, who helped spark the campaign, joined the couple at a local burger joint last week to show them the impact of the donations.

Married for over 56 years, the Pulleys were left stunned by the outpouring of generosity.

“It’s just really difficult to believe that there’s that many people that are that generous to try to help us,” Pulley told WSMV. “It’s taking a lot of pressure off us and making life livable once again.”

Brenda added, “Sometimes you look at all the bills you need to pay … if [you] don’t, you going to end up in the hospital with something even more expensive.”

A man who lost his family to the Lapu Lapu tragedy is questioning how the money that was donated to the victims is being spent.

Alejandro Samper’s mother, Glitza, his father, Daniel, and his sister, Glitza, were killed after a vehicle rammed a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Festival in Vancouver on April 26, 2025.

Samper, 34, wasn’t at the festival with them, as he was about to start work.

Eleven people were killed in total.

The United Way of BC published a report this month that stated it has distributed more than $1.5 million in the form of 45 grants following the deadly charity.

But Samper said that he feels angry about what has happened.

“There’s been not a lot of support from this organization, so we’re just wondering where all this money went,” he said.

“It breaks my heart, makes me feel angry, all the emotions, because that money was intended to help us victims.”

2:50
Lapu Lapu victim speaks to Global News

The report stated that the majority of the fundraising, more than half a million dollars, went toward mental health supports.

Get daily National news

Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

In addition, seven grants totalling roughly $235,000 were spent on healing circles; ten agencies received a total of $200,000 on art therapy; and the rest went to miscellaneous items, such as $30,000 to refurbish a basketball court with the colours of the Filipino flag and youth camps.

“I never heard of any counselling sessions offered to me,” Samper said.

“And I’m Latino, so if I didn’t receive any of this, I’m sure, no, the other victims didn’t receive any counselling sessions. Healing group? Like it’s just a mystery.”

Samper said he would like to see a breakdown of how much counsellors received and who received the sessions because he said it’s all a lie.

2:00
Privacy breaches after Lapu Lapu Day tragedy

Despite multiple requests, United Way BC declined to do an interview, but in an emailed statement, CEO Michael McKnight said the grants go towards supporting immediate and long-term needs.

“Every dollar United Way BC raised in response to the tragedy has gone – and will go –toward supporting the community through registered charities, non-profit programs and community organizations, a practice that adheres to our charitable purpose and Canada Revenue Agency guidelines,” he wrote.

An organization called Latincouver received $55,000 in grants.

Details show that it used almost $15,000 for a health and wellness booth over two days at its Carnaval De Sol in July.

Paola Murillo, founder of the organization, told Global News that the booth reached about 500 people and visitors were sharing messages of support for the Lapu Lapu victims.

“It’s not just for a booth,” she said.

“It’s also for the facilitators. It’s for all the healing, the people that was there, it’s marketing, more brochures that we have to do, website that you need to do, extra cost that we have to put.”

But Samper said something like that is irrelevant to the victims.

“We don’t want to go to another crowded event,” he said.

“And that’s where she claims most of the money went to — how many of the victims of this tragedy attended this festival? No, nobody. Nobody wants to go to this festival, like you know, experience a crowded event.”

Latincouver held several resilience gatherings and healing circles, spending more than $10,000.

Murillo said they had to pay for the activities and the space to hold these events.

“So we bring facilitators, we put our food, we bring the community together, so all of that has an extra expense,” she added.

Murillo also said the grant money is used and is allowed to be used to pay salaries.

But Samper said he is left with more questions than answers in his search for accountability and transparency.

“That doesn’t help me,” he said.

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.