A 91-year-old WWII veteran fighting to prevent his daughter from evicting him from his Ohio home has raised more than $138,000 from online donors to buy back his home, easily surpassing his goal.
John Potter says he's 'amazed' by the more than 5,000 people who have donated toward his original $125,000 goal while telling his granddaughter, Jaclyn Fraley, 'I never knew people could love an old man so much.'
After Mr Potter's daughter sent him an eviction notice earlier this year, Ms Fraley organized the desperate fundraiser for him in April while sharing with the public his dire situation.
Donations immediately poured in from around the world from those touched by the military veteran in Zaleski, Ohio whom they too called 'grandpa.'
This week the fundraiser passed its goal just in time for Mr Potter's 92nd birthday on Thursday.
In 2004, as Ms Fraley tells, Mr Potter was battling a serious illness when he handed his general power of attorney rights to his daughter, Janice Cottrill.
Unbeknownst to Mr Potter, she used that power to convey the deed to the one-story, three-bedroom home he built 56-years ago to herself.
Mr Potter says he can't understand how his family would turn on him like this.
'When I got out of the army and got on my feet on the ground, I rented a power shovel and dug a hole in the ground, built a basement and built a house on top of it,' he told ABC of the home.
He doesn't believe the house is worth all that much, having built it with the sole and simple purchase of housing his family.
When Mr Potter learned of the deed transfer in 2010 he switched power of attorney to his granddaughter, Jaclyn, who's now 35.
Family values.
Family values.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Family values.
Money trumps fidelity again.
Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.
yrs,
rubato