These Stories Will Restore Your Faith In Humanity

Summary

The Brett Cooper Show — "These Stories Will Restore Your Faith In Humanity"
Episode Date: June 25, 2026
Host: Brett Cooper

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Episode Overview

This episode of The Brett Cooper Show centers on “hope core”—uplifting trends where ordinary people help strangers in need, primarily through viral social media stories and crowd-funding. Brett highlights several powerful examples of kindness, explores the limitations of institutional safety nets, and advocates for community-driven generosity as a force for cultural resilience.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Rise of “Hope Core” and Kindness Influencers (00:10–05:00)

• The Phenomenon: Social media is increasingly spotlighting acts of kindness, with viral posts resulting in massive GoFundMe support for people in need—often elderly individuals who have contributed to social systems but still find themselves vulnerable.
• Brett draws a contrast between the vast needs seen online and governmental failures:

  “Why does it feel like it falls on strangers to step in and take care of people in need when we are being taxed to high heaven every single month?” (00:18)

• Featured Creator: SB Mowing (Spencer)—a viral TikTok/YouTube personality who gives free lawn care to those unable to manage on their own. His compassionate storytelling and hands-on help spark large-scale support.

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2. SB Mowing’s Story: Debbie’s Transformation (02:29–07:17)

• The Encounter: Debbie, embarrassed by her overgrown yard and after being scammed by a tree service out of $2,000, is nominated for help by Zach, an Uber driver.
• SPENCER’s Compassion: No judgment, deep listening:

  “Well, this is nothing that we can’t fix up and get looking good for you.” – Spencer (02:50) “We decided that we wanted to pay your rent, your last three months of rent that you’re backed up on.” – Spencer (04:32)

• The Result: A GoFundMe, initially set up by Spencer, grows to over $680,000 through thousands of modest donations—a life-changing sum.
• Debbie’s Reaction:

  “How can people be so generous? A stranger.” – Debbie (06:58) “I was so thankful with the yard being cleaned up.” – Debbie (07:14)

• Spencer ensures all funds are securely managed via trusts and vetted advisors to avoid further exploitation.

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3. The Ripple Effect: Helping the Uber Driver and Others (07:17–09:32)

• After the focus on Debbie, the community also rallies for Zach (the Uber driver) when his own hardships are revealed. A separate GoFundMe for him approaches $200,000.
• Brett marvels at the Internet’s collective power to uplift givers, not just receivers:

  “Can Zach, the Uber driver please come to the front of the room? We want to bless you too, sir.” (07:55)

• SB Mowing has repeated this model, including supporting other elderly women—demonstrating this is a repeatable, scalable pattern.

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4. Everyday People, Everyday Kindness (09:32–15:15)

• Brett emphasizes hope core is not just for big creators, but is driven by regular individuals on social platforms.
• AMC Janitor: A viral post helps an elderly woman janitor retire ($140,000 raised).
• Walmart Worker: A man meets an 82-year-old still working—again, TikTok and GoFundMe combine to provide over $140,000.
• Domino’s Delivery Driver (Dan):
  • Dan, who goes out of his way to buy a customer a soda out of pocket, is thought to be at the end of his working life. The video sparks a GoFundMe that grows from a $240 tip to nearly $200,000.
  • Memorable moment:

    “We had a Diet Coke. Okay. I stopped at the store, though.” – Dan (12:21)

  • When told of the support and big retirement party:

    “I’m retiring in 26 days.” – Dan (15:07)

• Brett’s emotional response:

  “These videos get so blurry. It must be a TikTok problem. It’s definitely not me.” (15:08)

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5. Cultural Reflection: Abundance of Generosity, Absence of Institutional Reliability (15:15–21:45)

• Algorithm & Outrage: Brett notes most viral online content is outrage, but these stories are reminders “there are good people out there, there are good things that happen online.”
• Systemic Frustration: Despite taxes meant to provide for vulnerable people, the system consistently fails:

  “The government collected over $5T last year and $186B of that was misplaced. Oopsie… Medicare and Medicaid—those are the services that a lot of these elderly people rely on.” (18:22)

• Social Security Woes: Cuts looming by 2033, benefits already barely adequate.
• False Optimism in Policy: Critiques both left and right for believing more government will fix the problem:

  “They designed this system with rainbows and sunshine… and it is simply not working.” (19:55)

• People Wanting to Work: Differentiates between seniors who work to stay active and those forced by necessity, with the latter being the focus of these hope core stories.
• Charitable Giving Rises: A 6% increase in 2025—Brett speculates more giving would occur with less government interference and lower taxes:

  “Imagine what we could all do with lower taxes, more money back in our pockets, and letting us do what we actually believe could help.” (21:45)

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Notable Quotes & Key Timestamps

• On Viral Generosity:
  “People simply coming together to take care of an elderly woman. Whatever extra they had laying around, that is what they gave her.” (05:55)
• On Debbie’s Gratitude:
  “How can people be so generous? A stranger.” – Debbie (06:58)
• On Institutional Failure:
  “The government collected over $5 trillion last year and $186 billion of that was misplaced. Oopsie.” (18:22)
• Hope vs. Outrage:
  “It’s such a good reminder that there are good people out there, there are good things that happen online.” (15:26)

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Conclusion & Takeaways

The episode closes by stressing the necessity and beauty of grassroots generosity in a world where institutional safety nets often fall short. While Brett is moved by these hope core stories, she’s also frustrated by systemic failures. Yet, she hopes these stories remind listeners of the innate goodness that persists despite chaos, and fuel greater trust in communities over distant bureaucracies.

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Key Segments & Timestamps

1. Opening & Theme Introduction – 00:10
2. SB Mowing & Debbie’s Story – 02:29–07:17
3. GoFundMe Explosions & Managing Windfalls – 05:55–07:17
4. Expanding Kindness: Zach the Uber Driver – 07:20–09:32
5. Viral Kindness Beyond Influencers – 09:32–12:19
6. Domino’s Driver Story – 12:19–15:08
7. Big Picture: Outrage, Broken Systems & Charitable Trends – 15:15–21:45
8. Final Reflection – 21:45–end

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This episode is a heartfelt exploration of civic generosity in the digital age, encouraging listeners to see both the power of everyday compassion and the need to rethink how we help the vulnerable among us.

Transcript

[Brian]

And we're live on Matchday as Doug reaches for a Buffalo wing. He's got it. Oh, and he's gone for a can of Pepsi too. What a finish. There's no doubt about it.

[Cooper]

It just tastes better. Matchdays deserve Pepsi. Okay, guys, there is something truly amazing going on. Strangers are pitching in to take care of other strangers, resulting in literally millions of dollars in GoFundMes. It is an incredible hope core side of the Internet, but we have to be real here because it is leaving a lot of people asking, why does it feel like it fall on strangers to step in and take care of people who are in need when we are being taxed to high heaven every single month? And that most of the people being helped are ones who spent decades pinching pennies and contributing into Social Security, hoping that at the end of their life it would take care of them. It is a screwed up system, but at least there is a glimmer of positivity here. Now, before we dive into these stories and why they made me cry every single day when I watch them, if you want even more content, head on over to Cooper confidential.com that is my subscriber platform where I upload Q&As and vlogs every single week. So go check that out. Cooperconfidential.com, and if you just wanna know when we upload here on the channel, make sure to ring that notification bell. All right, so the stories that I'm talking about today might be ones that you've seen before because they are incredibly viral, which is really great. But the formula is really simple. Somebody is out in the world, they come across usually an elderly person who is in need of help. Maybe they are a senior that is struggling to work, but obviously is still showing up to their job. They make a post about it, usually on TikTok. These posts garner millions of views. A GoFundMe is created and then within days, these individuals have enough money to to retire comfortably. The most recent one that inspired me to make this video was from my favorite creator on TikTok. Like, this is where I go to have faith in humanity. And that creator is SB Mowing. So the owner, Spencer, has had a lawn business since he was in college and he offers free lawn cleanup to people in need. Whether it is an elderly person, a family that's down on their luck, who they just can't keep up, whatever it may be, he offers them free lawn care. He makes a long video about it. It's often like an hour and a half Long video that he posts on YouTube. He does a shortened version on TikTok, tells their story online. He gives them a sense of dignity back with how their looks, how they're presenting themselves to the world, and then he moves on to the next. And usually with these homes and these families, they are nominated by neighbors, friends, families, even passerby or sometimes even the police will be called to a home saying, hey, this home is really messy and unkempt. We're angry at the person who lives there. The cops know to call Spencer and say, hey, could you help this person out so that they don't get in trouble and they stop making people upset, whatever it may be. But every once in a while, one of these stories will really hit home. Like this one from last week. Just watch.

[Debbie]

I have a mess.

[Spencer]

Do you?

[Debbie]

I'm not doing very well.

[Spencer]

I'm sorry about that. Let's see what you got going on. Whoa. So this is your yard you're dealing with back here?

[Debbie]

Yeah, it goes all the way back behind it.

[Spencer]

When's the last time that was mowed,

[Debbie]

you think last year? Last fall? Kind of embarrassed by it all.

[Spencer]

Well, this is nothing that we can't fix up and get looking good for you.

[Debbie]

And I had some bad people take advantage of me. A tree service. What?

[Spencer]

Tree service here in Wichita?

[Debbie]

Yeah, I had to put a $2,000 deposit down, and they never showed up. They had one excuse after the other, and so they took my $2,000. We were told he had pancreatic cancer and he died 90 days later.

[Spencer]

Oh, wow. I'm really sorry to hear that. Can I give you a hug?

[Debbie]

Appreciate that. That sh.

[Spencer]

Hey, everyone. Spencer here with SB Mowing. And this one started in a way I've never had a job come in before. I got an email from a guy named Zach who had given Debbie an Uber ride and helped carry her groceries all the way around to the back door. And that's when he saw the yard. The grass was almost as tall as he was back there, and there was just stuff all over the driveway. He knew she needed a lot of help, but he was a few weeks out from a knee surgery, so he reached out to me instead. When I got there and met Debbie, she told me she was embarrassed by how things had gotten, but once she started explaining the circumstances, it all made sense.

[Debbie]

You guys worked so hard because I was at my lowest. At my lowest.

[Spencer]

Well, we're happy to get you out of that low spot. I've actually got a little bit of another surprise for you, so I Run a non profit. It's called S.B. mow It Forward. And it's kind of an extension of what I already do. We decided that we wanted to pay your rent, your last three months of rent that you're backed up on.

[Debbie]

You don't really have to do that because you've done so much for me already.

[Spencer]

We want to. And we've got lots of people that are donating to the nonprofit. And this is what they do it for, to help people like you out.

[Cooper]

I mean, every video is just incredible. This one in particular. Obviously, we're gonna talk about why, but this man just has a heart of gold. He shows up, no questions asked. There's no judgment. His dad often comes. He is so kind. He does an incredible job. It's so detailed. He gets their yard to a place where they, you know, hopefully will be able to maintain it or be able to put a little money towards maintaining it. So it's not just this, like, behemoth of a problem that they're staring at every single day. He's just incredible. And you saw I was tearing up. I tear up at everything these days. Thank you, mostpartum. But I came across this video last week, and I was just weeping watching this. And so were 25 million other people. That is how many people just on TikTok alone watched that video. And people just across the Internet, they love what Spencer does with his nonprofit. They were so taken by the Uber driver who went out of his way to help Debbie. And then suddenly also, everybody had beef with this scummy tree service in Wichita. But Spencer's help did not stop. And it never just stops with cleaning up somebody's yard. Because after almost every video, if there is a person in the home with this, you know, a compelling story, and they need assistance, he creates a GoFundMe, which is what he did for Debbie. And at the time of my recording this video, that GoFundMe has reached more than $680,000, which you can see right here. Unequivocally, that is life changing money. And as I was spending a few minutes scrolling on the GoFundMe, seeing the comments and the notes from people, what stood out to me the most is that you look at the GoFundMe and it's not like, you know, a few wealthy people jumped in and donated $100,000 here, $10,000 here, $20,000, whatever it might be, which you do often see on GoFundMe's. This GoFundMe was created by modest donations. You know, $25 here, $10 here, $5 here. It's people simply coming together to take care of an elderly woman. Whatever extra they had laying around, that is what they gave her. And it grew to be close to a million dollars, close to $700,000. And her response when Spencer told her was just incredible. And he filmed it and posted it as well.

[Spencer]

So I started GoFundMe for you.

[Debbie]

Oh, my goodness.

[Spencer]

Yeah. Where people could donate and you already helped. Well, I wanted to help you a little bit more. And so I started this. And this is a screenshot of what it looks like. We've raised just over $400,000 for you.

[Debbie]

No way. Yeah, it's right there. Oh, my God. I can't believe it. How can people be so generous? A stranger.

[Spencer]

Over 13,000 people donated.

[Debbie]

I was so thankful with the yard being cleaned up.

[Cooper]

I mean, it's just. It's incredible. I cry every single time I see one of these. I cry when I see the initial video. I cry when I see the video after it and before anybody comments, because this is a normal concern, I just wanna say Spencer is a professional now. After doing, you know, hundreds of these videos, he gets it all put into trust for these individuals. He has vetted financial advisors that he works with. So no more tree scamming is going to happen to Debbie, hopefully, if everything goes according to. But the comments, they are always just so positive and amazing. Somebody said you should probably re upload the videos. All blurry because we're just crying. The other part of this story, and I wanna wrap it up kind of with a bow with this, is that Spencer went out and found the man who brought him to Debbie. He found Zach, the Uber driver who made all of this happen. And he amplified his story as well. Zach, the Uber driver, was having knee surgeries. You heard in the video. His wife has been hospitalized with a serious injury and has been unable to work. So he picked up the second job of driving Uber. And then his older daughter, he's a father of eight. His oldest daughter has leukemia that she is batt. And even though he has all of this awful, awfulness going on in his life, he still went out of his way to help somebody in need. And so all over Spencer's videos, people were commenting and saying, can Zach, the Uber driver please come to the front of the room? We want to bless you too, sir. Another person said, let's do something for Zach as well. And so Spencer made sure that the Internet could help him as well. And his gofundme now is almost at 200k. I mean it's just remarkable. But guys, it is also only one story because this is a trend online now. You know, Spencer and his global audience have also raised almost a million dollars for another elderly woman that he help a couple of months ago. And I know that Spencer is not gonna stop there. 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All right, now back to the story and this growing trend. I think it's important to point out that while Spencer and S.B. mowing, you know, is a big thing now, they have a big YouTube channel and a big TikTok. It's not just these big creators, these hope core creators, nonprofit creators, whatever you wanna call them. I think that they're called kindness influencers. It's not just them who make this possible. More often than not. It's actually just random people posting the stories of folks that they meet in their day to day life. For example, this was also a couple of months ago, a girl saw an el elderly woman working at amc. She was pushing a janitor cart around. She was obviously having trouble standing up and walking. She posted that on TikTok. She created a GoFundMe for this woman and raised over $140,000 so that she could retire. There's another story of a man who also raised $140,000 for an elderly Walmart worker. He met a man who was 82 years old and still working at Walmart. And then this next one, it is possibly my personal favorite story, but this woman set up a GoFundMe after having a sweet interaction with her Domino's delivery driver. And so the story is that this woman and her husband had ordered a few pizzas on a busy and along with her order they had asked for one of those big liters of Coke. But apparently that location of Domino's had run out of the soda. So the store was trying to get ahold of her. The delivery driver was calling her and saying, I'm so sorry we can't get the soda. But they were not able to get her on the phone in time. So the delivery driver had to leave to deliver the pizza, but he felt so bad about it that he stopped on his way to get her a soda on his own dime. He literally stopped in the middle of his delivery, went into a 7 11, whatever it is and picked up the soda that she wanted. Just watch their interaction.

[Brian]

The voicemail just popped up. I didn't see a phone call. We had a Diet Coke. Okay. I stopped at the store, though. Oh, you did not have to do that. That's okay. Did you really? Yeah. That's all right. Oh, man. Hold on now. Do you have a way I can. I can add. Add more to your tip? Because you deserve more than that. I don't have any cash on you is my problem. Oh, don't worry about it. That's fine. 660. That's a good tip. The store is right next to our store, you know. Yeah. Hey, listen, I appreciate that very much. Yeah, that's okay. Can I. If I call into the store, can they take more on that. On that tip? I just wish I had cash for you. Oh, you don't need to. That's a good tip.

[Debbie]

So good. So good, so good.

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[Brian]

All right, I know. Reimbursement Mine's Dan. Dan, I'm Brian. I appreciate you. You're at that store up on Maple. Maple Grove. Yeah. I want to tell him that Dan, he's a great driver. I'm going to. Dan, I worked you very much. 14 years I've worked here. I'm retiring. I'm retiring in 26 days.

[Cooper]

Oh, my God. It's getting bl. These videos get so blurry. It must be a TikTok problem. It's definitely not me. Okay, so again, the video is posted. It's super simple. It's really sweet. She's not meaning anything by it. She just says, this was such a sweet act of kindness. It's rare to see somebody go out of their way like this, which is true. It's crazy that this is a thing. And obviously there's the element of the story of this is an elderly man who is still working. He's so close to retirement. This is his second job, which she talks about. It's kind of sad that in our society, somebody in the service industry stops and goes above and beyond for a customer. I feel like since COVID the service industry is just like, ah, it's like pulling deep. It's just unpleasant and it's terrible. And I feel like I can say that because I worked in the service industry and I saw how angry people were and customers were angry people in the service industry. It's just awful, awful, awful. So it makes sense that the small act of kindness stuck with people. And so again, racked up almost a million likes on her video. She created a GoFundMe and she was able to raise almost $200,000 to help him in his retirement after working the second job as a delivery driver for the last 14 years. And what is even sweeter about this story is that at first, when they created the GoFundMe, a few people donated, and they, I think, had raised $240, and they were so excited about just that alone. So they went into the store, they got cash for a tip for him, and they gave him the little GoFundMe gift card with $240 on it. And everybody was so excited. They were like, this is so sweet. They were posting videos saying, thank you, everybody. This is amazing. And then they went home and there was $1,000. And then a couple of hours later, it was $5,000 and then $10,000. It just kept growing. They were all shocked. And then by the end of it, you know, 26 days later, when D they had raised almost $200,000 and they threw him this huge retirement party. GoFundMe brought in one of those big checks. Like, it's just so incredible. And I love these videos and I hope you guys do too. And I bring all of this up and I wanted to do a video on it because I think it's such a good reminder that there are good people out there, there are good things that happen online. Even though the majority of content that I do is I'm ranting about things, I'm talking about crazy people. And the majority of things that you see online that you interact with are outrage content, just because that's how the algorithm works. But there are some still amazing things. And I think it's important to recognize that it's refreshing to see among so much chaos and hate. But because it's me, we do have to talk about the bad side of this because obviously, even though I'm excited about this and I love going on there and donating to these GoFundMes and it's just so amazing to see, obviously it still got me thinking about how much money we hand over to the government every single month. Expecting them actually believing their promise that they are going to take care of of people like this, especially those who are in their old age. You know, time and time again, people say we need to vote for expanded social services, healthcare, we need higher taxes so that we can take care of those who are needy. And yet obviously the system does not work because there are so many stories just like this. And I mean, who is surprised because the government cannot even keep track of the money that we are paying them to do this, for example, just want to. This is like the opposite of hope core. This is black pill. But last year, for example, the government collected over $5 trillion. Everybody's like gawking at Elon Musk being a trillionaire. Okay? The government took $5 trillion from us last year and $186 billion of that was misplaced. Oopsie. Oopsie. It was misallocated. They don't know where it went.

[Brian]

Oop.

[Cooper]

They made a little oopsie with $186 billion. And you should know which agencies had the greatest errors of misplacement or lost money. Wow. Medicare and Medicaid, which you can see on this graph, those are the services that a lot of these elderly people rely on. So I say all of this because even though, you know, universal healthcare and universal basic income and free everything, free this, you know, whatever the Mamdanis of the world are saying and Promising. I think it is inconsistent. It's dishonest to say that that does not sound good. Like, obviously, that sounds great if it worked. It feels good to promote that and dream about that. But I'm sorry, how could you even begin to trust that the government would pull it off? How could you even fathom that they would disperse, dispense our money in the ways that they promised? Because they already are incapable of doing that. They are telling us, they are showing us every single year that they can't, plus adding, you know, fuel to the fire. Social Security, which is supposed to help the elderly, that's running out. Supposedly by 2033, they're already gonna have to start making cuts. I think that they are speculating that the cuts are gonna be like 22%, which is already insane. Like, Social Security, as it stands now is barely enough for people to get by. I think that it is like 25,000 doll. And that's before health insurance is taking out of it. So a 22% cut is going to be devastating for those who paid into it and are relying on it or expecting that it's going to be there in their old age. Now, add to that, the government apparently borrowed money from the big Social Security account in the form of bonds, which they are, yes, they are paying back. But that means that that account is not growing in the same way it would have if they had left it just untouched. So, like, the entire thing is just a mess. They designed this system with rainbows and sunshine and free things and, oh, we're taking care of you, and it is simply not working. And so instead, we have stories like the ones we saw today where you have elderly people who are not even able to afford taking care of their small lawns, having to push a trash cart at a movie theater when they can barely walk, working second jobs late into their 70s. Like, do you not see the irony in that? And yet you have half the country that, like, turning a blind eye to it. They can't see that the system isn't working. They're like, we just have to try it again. Better. Has it been done correctly yet? No, I think it has. I think we have tried a million different ways. Obviously, it's not working. And I know that there are people out there who will say, well, you know, it is good for people to work. Maybe they don't even need to retire. They should get out of the house. It probably helps them socialize and stay young. And, you know, for some people, that is true. Like, I remember working at Trader Joe's with, you know, jovial grandparents who just wanted a second job. When I was working as a waitress at Boise, there was an older woman, I think she was probably like 80 years old, who was the bartender there. And she did it because she loved it. She, like, knew all the customers. She had such a great time. That is a separate thing than what we were talking about today. Those are people that wanted to be there. That is not the case for a lot of these individuals. And I know that these stories are, you know, hopeful and happy. That's why I wanted to share them today. But also on the flip side, it does infuriate me. But the good thing is, even with bills and responsibilities of their own, regular people, normal Americans keep stepping up and doing it themselves, completely outside of this government system. You know, I think an incredible number to look at is that charitable giving grew 6% in 2025, thanks to a good stock market. AKA people were making more money and they felt more inclined to give. Imagine that. And so imagine if we're wanting to, you know, have feel good fuzzy feelings and good ideas about taking care of people in need. Imagine what we could all do with lower taxes, more money back in our pockets, back in people's hands, and letting us do what we actually believe could help instead of just sitting on our hands and hoping that maybe the government will hoping that maybe one day they'll get it right.

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