A former news anchor helped raise over $222,000 for a 90-year-old veteran who was working on Memorial Day in extreme heat.
Karen Swensen, a former news anchor at WWL-TV, was at a Louisiana Winn Dixie grocery store on Memorial Day when she noticed Dillon McCormick, a 90-year-old Air Force veteran, pushing shopping carts in the sweltering heat.
The heat index that day made it feel like 111 degrees. Moved by concern and curiosity, she approached him to learn more.
McCormick has been working at the store for 23 years, tirelessly pushing carts outside.
“I was thinking how can this be? How can somebody who’s clearly lived a long time and worked so hard be out here in this heat pushing carts,” Swensen said.
When she asked McCormick why he was working on Memorial Day, his response was simple: “Everybody has to eat.”
McCormick, living on $1,100 in Social Security each month, had monthly bills totaling $2,500. The job at Winn Dixie was essential for him to bridge this financial gap.
Determined to help, Swensen recorded their conversation and shared it on social media, launching a GoFundMe page for McCormick. The community’s response was overwhelming. Within 24 hours, the fundraiser had raised more than $244,000 from strangers across the country.
McCormick was initially skeptical. When Swensen called to inform him about the campaign, he hung up, unsure if it was real. To reassure him, Swensen enlisted the help of Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto, who helped convince McCormick that the outpouring of generosity was genuine.
“So often, we think of ourselves as divided. Right? Us and them. No, this was ‘we’ and ‘our.’ We take care of our own not only in Louisiana, but this entire nation banded together. I looked at who was donating… it’s the left, it’s the right, it’s everything in between. We united for the right reason,” Swensen said.
McCormick expressed his deep gratitude for the donations and wished he could thank each individual person. He also mentioned his plans to donate a quarter of the money to the Catholic church near his home.
Despite his newfound financial security, McCormick has no plans to retire. “If you stop working, you will stop living,” he said. “The good die young, so it looks like I’m gonna be here a long time.”
As we reflect on this story, let us be inspired to help those around us. Whether it’s a small act of kindness or a larger gesture, our actions can have a big impact. We are all part of a community, and together, we can make a difference. Let us live out our faith through our actions.
Matthew 25:40: “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.“
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