It’s not every day that a life changing moment in a person’s life gets caught on camera, but that was certainly the case for traffic warden Linita Edge recently.
Edge was working when she was approached by TikToker Zachery Dereniwoki. She told him she was a fan of the Detroit Tigers, and Dereniwoki then asked whether she wanted to buy his jersey for just $1.
A new jersey for $1 is a great result as it is. But that was far from it.
After checking in with her boss, Dereniwoki managed to get her off shift early. While Edge asked whether it would mean money off her paycheck, Dereniwoki pulled out another surprise and gave her $500 and a free ticket to the game.
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@mdmotivator “Happy Mother’s Day” (GoFundMe 1N B10) 🥺❤️ #tigers #mom #mothersday #love #detroit #baseball #kindness #money
“It’s mother’s day weekend, we’re going to celebrate a mom,” he said.
Speaking about her financial situation, Edge added: “I was just telling my son, we’re going to have to put it together. And I hate taking from my kids. I try to get everything done. I tell him ‘we’re just going to have to pray’. Thank you Jesus!”
Millions of people saw the viral TikTok, and were inspired by it to launch a GoFundMe page.
@mdmotivator $50,000 for single mom 🥺❤️ #mother #baseball #detroit #kindness #money
Incredibly, a further $50,000 was raised for Edge online, and she was given the money in a later video ahead of another Tigers game.
After realising what had just happened, she sank to her knees and burst into tears, saying: “Thank God!”
The comments section was full of support and words of celebration. One wrote in the comments section: “She deserves this! Her response about her kids was everything!”
“Of all people, I’m glad she’s receiving these blessings,” another said.
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