Donations pour in for dying Navy vet holding yard sale to pay for his own funeral
A bunch of you have sent in the story about this guy. I have delayed posting anything because we have yet to confirm his service and these type of stories tend to turn south in a heart beat. Notwithstanding all that, time may be of the essence in this case.
Two friends who set up a GoFundMe page for a Pennsylvania man who’d been holding yard sales to pay for his own funeral expenses say they’ve received so many donations they are planning to help other veterans in similar situations.
David Dunkleberger and his friend Ed Sheets pulled into a yard sale in Brownstown last month. The man running it, 66-year-old Willie Davis, said he was selling his belongings to pay for his funeral.
Davis, who served in the Navy in the 1970s, has been diagnosed with stage 4 squamous cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer.
“It broke your heart, hearing the story, and we just decided we had to do something to try and help him, try to make his life a little bit easier,” Sheets told WJAC-TV.
The cancer was initially misdiagnosed last year and he ended up with an infection, Davis told the Tribune-Democrat newspaper. After a biopsy revealed he had squamous cell carcinoma, Davis was told it had spread into his bones.
Dunkleberger initially set a $6,000 goal then raised it to $40,000. By Friday morning, over $50,000 had been donated.
Because of the large number of donations, GoFundMe asked him to include more information about their mission to help Davis, he wrote on the page . He said 100 percent of the funds raised will go to Davis’s funeral and burial costs.
A second update, after the goal was raised to $40,000 on Thursday, said they would keep raising the goal to help other veterans with funeral costs.
“We have all agreed that Willie is lucky to have everyone’s support and we hope to find more individuals that can use our support. Thank you all for your help!” he wrote.
GoFundMe said they will work with Davis’s family members and the campaign’s organizers to make sure the excess funds are managed appropriately.
Davis has a burial plot near his parents at a cemetery in Culpeper, Virginia, and said he wishes to be interred there.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will pay up to $300 toward burial and funeral expenses for a non-service-related death, if not in a VA hospital at the time of death, according to the department’s website . The VA will also give a $780 plot-interment allowance if not buried in a national cemetery.
Dunkleberger told the Tribune-Democrat he’s been talking with Davis’ oldest sister to determine how much it will cost to have him transported to Virginia, prepared for burial and then laid to rest.
Davis told the newspaper he was stunned by the help.
He said he doesn’t expect to make it until Christmas — “although I’d love to” — and tries to escape negative thoughts by listening to music or watching deer graze in the yard outside his home.
“Sometimes, you don’t stop to appreciate those types of things until you know they won’t last forever,” Davis said. “I’d love to have more of them.”
I hate to publish stories when we have not had a chance to verify service but many of you thought this would be a good time to make an exception. Best regards to Mr. Davis.
Category: Military issues, Veterans in the news
Guilty as charged. This one didn’t spike my First Alert Bullshit Detector, even with the tin cup Go Fund Me rattle.
Mr Davis, ask Jesus into your heart and life and the next life, which will be instanteous on leaving this one, will make this life look like existance in a ghetto! DO IT!
Cremation is well under $2K.
I’m pre-approved for the state veterans cemetery.
Free.
One less thing Mrs. Sparky will have to worry about.
Probably Abraham Lincoln for me. We’ll see. Hopefully I have a few years left to figure it out.
See you there, my older brother is there. Trying to convince my wife to go there with me. Close and it’s pretty nice. Cannot believe how fast it’s filling up.
I will donate my cadaver to science. My superpower of drinking endless amounts of beer have to be studied.
The story at GFM is worth reading. He seems legit. Has documentation to verify Navy service as well as documents to verify medical problems.
I think that the doctor gave him only a few more months, so he’s just trying to tidy things up.
Up here, VAC pays for the most costly aspects of the funeral. Standard military grave stone, plot are included but Im not sure about the service.
“make sure the excess funds donated are managed appropriately.” We can only hope.
I am donating my used up carcass to Science Fiction when i get done driving it all over the planet. it might even amuse them to try and figure why I didnt kick off this mortal coil sooner.
What gets me is that no undertaker or mortician has offered to extend some charity to this man.
The issue is that he wants to be buried in a civilian cemetery with his wife.
Undertakers can be a greedy lot. Many are not above trying to take advantage of grieving families.
Well pluck me,
“The campaign’s GoFundMe page says Davis is a single man who hopes to be buried with his parents in Virginia. He is suffering from Stage 4 squamous cell carcinoma.”
Per the Chicago Sun-Times.
Still that’s why he’s trying to sell his stuff.
It doesn’t seem to me that this man was seeking the spotlight but that it found him through one or more we-intentioned individuals. He is ID’ed as a VN Era Veteran, which is refreshing. I hope his cancer goes into remission and that he can spend whatever money has come his way.
I Robot dislikes Ls I see.
The VA cemetery in Culpepper is very nice. Well maintained grounds and quiet.