Influencer Uses His Platform For Good And Helps Raise More Than $70K For An Airport Pianist In Need
Atlanta, Georgia. Influencer Carlos Whittaker is an author, podcaster, and speaker with a pretty large following on Instagram.
Carlos has more than 221,000 followers on the social media platform, and he frequently posts photos and videos about his life with his family or things to help motivate and inspire his followers.
On July 21st, Carlos was headed home to Nashville and he was waiting for his flight at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
He had just paused to pick up some food from Chick-fil-A when he saw a man playing a piano in the airport, but not a single person had stopped to listen to his beautiful music.
Carlos did take a moment to appreciate this man’s talent, and then he decided to take time out of his day to speak to the airport pianist.
“I sat down to listen to him…Then invited him over for a chat,” Carlos explained in an Instagram post.
“Learned he has kidney disease and is on dialysis 9 hours every night but then comes to the airport to play piano 4 hours a day…He radiates life…”
Tonee Valentine is the name of the talented airport pianist, and Carlos was so moved by his story that he decided to do something.
Instagram; pictured above is one of Carlos’s posts on the talented airport pianist and his story
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Carlos shared Tonnee’s story on Instagram, and it only took minutes for Carlos’s followers to help raise $10,000 for this man in need.
“I saw his empty tip jar and asked you guys to cash app and Venmo a tip for him,” Carlos later explained in a second post.
“30 minutes later and after a 20-minute conversation getting to know him, we tipped Tonee, who has kidney disease and is on dialysis 9 hours every night but still comes into work every day to play $10,000… which has grown to $61,000.”
“I love it when we show the talking heads who make a living stoking outrage that there’s a better way to be human. This is it. Love you guys.”
Carlos has been sharing more updates on how much money has been raised since then for Tonee, and it’s now more than $70,000.
Instagram; pictured above is a second post from Carlos after he decided to tip Tonee
More About:Human Interest
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