Inside influencer Sam Wiedenhofer’s viral encounter with Army veteran Ed Bambas, 88, at Michigan supermarket

Australian influencer Sam Wiedenhofer was traveling across America on a mission to spread kindness when he stepped into a Michigan supermarket and met Army veteran Ed Bambas – whose heartbreaking story sparked a wave of donations that has now surpassed $1.7 million. 

Wiedenhofer, 22, who is on a US Kindness Tour through Christmas, walked into a Meijer grocery store in Brighton on Nov. 25, unaware that the 88-year-old employee would so candidly lay bare his crushing grief and financial woes in a now-viral video that has rallied the internet to help him retire.