When one billionaire CEO noticed a local man struggling to hang on to his home, he decided to use his money for good. You see, the self-proclaimed hermit could not raise enough money to rebuild his cabin – so the philanthropist donated a generous sum!
Billionaire CEO Comes To The Rescue
What do you do when you lose your home in a fire? That’s what hermit “River Dave,” actual name David Lidstone, needed to ask himself recently. The 81-year-old had lived alone in the New Hampshire wood for nearly 20 years. He called himself a hermit as he didn’t own the property on the banks of the Merrimack River where he stayed. However, the previous owner gave him access to the land and allowed him to build a small A-frame cabin.
Unfortunately, the new owner didn’t like River Dave, and when a forest fire took his cabin, the new landowner took River Dave to court. Just like that, Dave was homeless. Soon enough, two of River Dave’s friends, Jodie Gedeon and Sharon Copello, organized a GoFundMe to help him return to his home. That’s when something incredible happened…
Hermit Lost His Cabin, Found New Lifestyle
In response to the GoFundMe, the one and only Alexander Karp reached out to the hermit on August 11. You see, Karp was not just a simple local willing to donate – he’s New Hampshire’s resident billionaire and the CEO of Palantir Technologies! Not only that, but he was well aware of River Dave! After all, Dave has become something of a local hero. To make sure he remains such, Karp wrote the hermit a check for $180,000. The billionaire hopes the funds will help Dave cover his living expenses for the foreseeable future.
“I hope each of you are sitting down and have a tissue or two next to you as what I am going to share is part of the happy ending to come and I can’t imagine a dry eye anywhere after you read this,” Gedeon posted to her Facebook page. “How can I express myself and my gratitude towards something like that? I start to tear up whenever I think about it.”
Now, River Dave has the money in the official trust, and he’s living in the private location until next year. In 2022, the money will go towards building a new home. “I feel about as good as I ever have in my life,” the grateful hermit told AP, adding that the hermit is changing his mind about people as well. “Maybe the things I’ve been trying to avoid are the things that I really need in life… I grew up never being hugged or kissed, or [having] any close contact… I had somebody ask me once, about my wife: ‘Did you really love her?’ And the question kind of shocked me for a second. [I’d] never loved anybody in my life. And I shocked myself because I hadn’t realized that.”
“And that’s why I was a hermit,” River Dave said, finishing. “Now I can see love being expressed that I never had before.”
Sources: Boston.com, Good News Network