In 30 minutes, traveler raises $10,000 in tips for airport piano player
Pianist Tonee "Valentine" Carter received the biggest tip of his life last Wednesday, courtesy of strangers from around the world who heard him play virtually.
Motivational speaker Carlos Whittaker was walking through Concourse A at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport when he heard someone playing the piano. He saw Carter, 66, "going to town, and I knew I just had to stay there," Whittaker told CNN. For 90 minutes, Whittaker sat in a bar and listened to Carter perform, and soon the pair were chatting. Whittaker saw that Carter's tip jar was empty, and decided to change that.
Whittaker shared videos of Carter playing to his Instagram account, and asked his 200,000 followers if they wanted to help him deliver Carter his biggest tip ever. Within 30 minutes, $10,000 had been sent via Venmo and Cash App. When Whittaker told Carter about the tip, he was stunned. "I love giving and donating and helping people, but I never expected someone to do it for me," Carter told CNN.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The money kept coming in, and that $10,000 grew to $70,000 by Saturday. Carter said he was touched by the fact that many of the donations were small amounts like $1 or $2. "I knew they were giving me what they had," he said. "People were giving out of love."
Carter has kidney disease and receives dialysis treatment nightly, but that doesn't stop him from going to the airport nearly every day, because when he plays the piano, "I feel like the happiest man in the world," he said. The massive tip means everything to Carter, but he told CNN that it's "not mine. It's money that's going to go to others. There is only one way to say thank you, because words are inadequate. And that is to pay this forward."
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
You Are Here: the new David Nicholls 'past-their-prime' romance
The Week Recommends 'Midlife disenchantment' gives way to romance for two walkers on a cross-country hike
By Adrienne Wyper, The Week UK Published
-
The new powers to stop stalking in the UK
The Explainer Updated guidance could help protect more victims, but public is losing trust in police and battered criminal justice system
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Criminal trail?'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
Puffed rice and yoga: inside the collapsed tunnel where Indian workers await rescue
Speed Read Workers trapped in collapsed tunnel are suffering from dysentery and anxiety over their rescue
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in Morocco
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mexico's next president will almost certainly be its 1st female president
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
North Korea's Kim to visit Putin in eastern Russia to discuss arms sales for Ukraine war, U.S. says
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Gabon's military leader sworn in following coup in latest African uprising
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published