Elderly McDonald’s Worker Receives $69K In Donations After Wife Passes Away In Restaurant

It’s truly amazing when an entire community decides to work together to help someone in need. An elderly McDonald’s worker has just received $69,000 in online donations to help pay for his debts. It’s an incredible show of generosity that happened just two months after the employee’s wife passed away in the same restaurant he’s worked in for 40 years.

Wendall Gill has been making customers smile at the McDonald’s in Lexington, Kentucky for several years. Unfortunately, the 85-year-old worker was hit with tragedy in September. Gill’s wife Della visited him at the restaurant so they could eat lunch together. Della went to the bathroom, where she suffered an aneurysm and passed away. Now Gill’s customers are the ones who are working to bring his smile back.

This man is helping his elderly friend in the best way possible.

Todd Oldfield has been friends with Gill for a long time. When tragedy hit, Oldfield decided to set up an online fundraiser for the elderly McDonald’s worker. This would help support Gill and the two adult special needs grandsons he and Della have been caring for.

“He had a lot of expenses that he was dealing with, especially being that he can’t work full-time now because he’s got his two sweet boys to take care of. I wanted to pay off his van so he’d be able to drive his boys around,” Oldfield said.

The GoFundMe has collected $69,000 in only 10 days. It was clear that people were eager to help Gill after he had made them smile for several decades.

Gill’s grandsons enjoy a meal at McDonald’s.

Gill clearly appreciated Oldfield’s efforts and the donations from the community. He has since made his final payment on his Jeep. Gill intends to use the rest of the donations to settle his other debts.

Although Gill’s story began with a tragedy, there is little doubt that he can persevere with the help of his friends. Hopefully, the elderly restaurant worker finally has enough to enjoy retirement and spend more time with his grandsons.