BRIGHTON, Mich. (AP) — Ed Bambas will soon ring up his last can of corn.
The 88-year-old Michigan grocery worker was handed an oversized check for $1.7 million Friday, the result of a remarkable fundraising campaign by a young Australian man with an extraordinary following on social media.
"No, no," Bambas said, wiping tears and sniffles in front of reporters. “Thank you. Oh, my God.”
Sam Weidenhofer, 22, is using his powerful platforms to spread kindness — and money — on a visit to the United States.
He met Bambas at a Meijer store in Brighton in southeastern Michigan about two weeks ago and recorded a TikTok video for his 7.7 million followers in which the General Motors retiree explained why he's still working as he approaches 90, following the death of his wife, Joan, after a chronic illness in 2018.
“I don’t have enough income," Bambas said on the video.
Weidenhofer in turn launched an online GoFundMe drive, urging people to help Bambas.
“His story is a stark reminder that too many of our seniors, especially veterans face incredible challenges just to survive,” said Weidenhofer, who's from Melbourne, Australia, and has more than 10 million followers on various social media sites.
The response was dizzying: More than 15,000 people have pitched in with donations ranging from $10 to $10,000.
“It means a terrible burden,” Bambas jokingly told reporters. “I have to find everybody and say, ‘thank you.’"
He said he started working at Meijer, a big-box store with groceries, clothes and other items, at age 82.
“I talk to everybody that came through my cashier line because it helped me not become despondent on her loss. ... I gave them a piece of my life story,” Bambas said, referring to his wife.
Lexi Wallace, 26, who used to be a regular customer before moving away, went on Weidenhofer's Facebook page and urged him to find Bambas.
“I thought his name was Bob. He never corrected me,” Wallace said. “I would love going to Meijer to see him.”
Weidenhofer said Bambas will be able to clear $225,000 in debt with the windfall. How he spends the rest of the money is totally up to him.
“It feels like a dream,” Weidenhofer said.
Bambas wants to travel to see his brother and pick up golf again. As for work, he's not quitting his cashier post yet.
“I’ll probably work another month or two and shut things down,” he said.
Associated Press reporter Corey Williams in West Bloomfield, Michigan, contributed to this story.
Influencer Samuel Weidenhofer, left, poses for a photo with Ed Bambas, right, the 88-year-old Brighton resident who is the recipient of over $1.7 million after a viral Gofundme campaign was started by Weidenhofer, after the amount is revealed to Bambas, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, in Brighton, Mich. (Katy Kildee/Detroit News via AP)
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — René Redzepi, the founder and celebrity chef at the iconic Danish restaurant Noma that won three Michelin stars and other international accolades for its innovative “New Nordic” cuisine, has stepped down following allegations of abuse and assault at the Copenhagen landmark.
Redzepi has been dogged for years by reports of mistreatment of his staff as well as his yearslong use of unpaid interns to staff the pricy restaurant, which was ranked first on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants List five times. But the criticism recently came to a head on social media, and an article in The New York Times detailed former employees' accounts of abuse just days ahead of the opening of a Noma pop-up in Los Angeles.
Sponsors have since pulled their funding for the Southern California residency, which opened on Wednesday to a small gathering of protesters and where a meal will cost $1,500. Redzepi announced his resignation on Instagram with a tearful video soon after.
“I have worked to be a better leader and Noma has taken big steps to transform the culture over many years,” he wrote in the post's caption on Thursday. “I recognize these changes do not repair the past. An apology is not enough; I take responsibility for my own actions.”
Jason Ignacio White, a former head of Noma’s fermentation lab, collected anonymous testimonies of alleged abuse at the restaurant and posted them to his Instagram page. The accounts, which range from verbal abuse to physical assault at the hands of Redzepi and his deputies, have gone viral.
“I got punched in the face during service there,” one unidentified person wrote to White.
Another said: “Noma destroyed my passion for the industry. I struggled with intense anxiety, bad enough to give me panic attacks in the middle of the night. The trauma, abuse and idea that nothing would ever change all led me to walk away from the career.”
Redzepi has publicly addressed his aggression over the last decade. In response to Saturday's New York Times article, which included interviews with 35 former employees who worked at Noma between 2009 and 2017, the chef apologized on Instagram and said he has worked to change his behavior.
He was knighted in 2016 to Denmark's Order of Dannebrog by then-Queen Margrethe II.
Noma, Redzepi and the Danish royal family's press department did not immediately return requests for comment on Thursday.
Kristoffer Dahy Ernst, editor-in-chief of Danish food magazine Gastro, said Redzepi had to step down for the restaurant to have a chance of survival.
“René Redzepi is the face of Noma, he is Noma,” Dahy Ernst told The Associated Press. “If you want to solve the huge problem that Noma has right now, you have to remove the source of the problem.”
Dahy Ernst said it is unclear whether Noma can continue without its visionary founder, who brought international acclaim to a Scandinavian country that can trace a change in its gastro-tourism before and after the restaurant's 2003 opening. With its dedication to hospitality, flawless execution and culture of foraging from the nearby land and sea, Noma made Copenhagen a top dining destination for foodies worldwide.
“We were very old-fashioned. We had open-faced sandwiches with rye bread, but we weren’t really that proud of our gastronomy,” Dahy Ernst said.
For Annie Nguyen, an American tourist visiting Copenhagen on Thursday, Noma had long been on her list of places to check out. But the recent headlines have prompted a change of heart.
“I personally would not want to continue dining there with that kind of culture,” she said. “I feel it does kind of leave a bad taste.”
Dazio reported from Berlin.
A staff member polishes the glass doors outside a Noma restaurant in Copenhagen, Tuesday, May 1, 2012. (Keld Navntoft/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Noma's chef René Redzepi smells a citrus fruit in Copenhagen, Nov. 24, 2024. (Soeren Bidstrup/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Noma's chef René Redzepi prepares a vegetarian burger in a restaurant, in Copenhagen, Nov. 24, 2024. (Soeren Bidstrup/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
