{"id":14316,"date":"2026-04-10T10:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T10:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/?p=14316"},"modified":"2026-04-10T10:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T10:10:10","slug":"his-wife-has-now-spoken-out-about-his-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/?p=14316","title":{"rendered":"His wife has now spoken out about his job."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

An 80-year-old in Arizona has been forced to work five days a week as a Lyft driver in order to cover basic living costs for himself and his wife.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Keep reading to learn more.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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A neighbor says it\u2019s heartbreaking to watch an 80-year-old man in Arizona still working five days a week as a Lyft driver just to cover medical bills and basic living costs.<\/p>\n

Richard Hoppin, a\u00a0retired Marine<\/a>, never saw himself spending his later years sitting at home.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf you want to die, just sit at home. I thought I\u2019d do something very constructive and help people,\u201d he\u00a0said<\/a>, as per 12 News.<\/p>\n

So that\u2019s exactly what he did. The American, born in the 1940s, began driving for Lyft, the second-largest ridesharing platform in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need a ride, so I give them a ride,\u201d Hoppin, who has multiple sclerosis and Crohn\u2019s disease,\u00a0explained<\/a>\u00a0to NBC affiliate KYMA-DT.<\/p>\n

Five times per week, Hoppin heads out in the only vehicle he and his wife, Catherine, own, picking up between six and eight passengers a day.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSome rides are real long, some are real short. I\u2019ve been to California, I\u2019ve been to Phoenix, I\u2019ve been to Flagstaff, and Tucson,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

Catherine, who recently underwent three rounds of radiation for\u00a0lung cancer<\/a>, says the couple of hundred dollars her husband earns through Lyft makes a meaningful difference.<\/p>\n

Without it, she said, they might be homeless by now.<\/p>\n

While her health insurance covers her $50,000 radiation sessions, she still has to pay part of the cost out of pocket, according to\u00a0reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That extra financial pressure is exactly why Hoppin continues driving.<\/p>\n

Concerned neighbors have since stepped in, launching a\u00a0GoFundMe<\/a>\u00a0in support of the couple.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt breaks my heart to see him just trying to get through the day,\u201d the fundraiser, started by Arizona resident Michael Long, reads.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir health is declining, and the cost of medical care, food, and utilities is overwhelming.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWith no family left to support them, they are relying on the kindness of neighbors and the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to help them cover their medical bills and everyday living expenses so they can focus on their health and well-being, rather than worrying about how to make ends meet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Long added that helping others is a \u201cgift,\u201d and that any support would \u201cmean the world to Richard and Catherine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c[It] will help them feel less alone during this difficult time,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

In an interview with 12 News, Long said he didn\u2019t know the full extent of the couple\u2019s financial situation but hoped the \u201cgoodness of people [would] come forward and donate something.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time of writing, the\u00a0GoFundMe<\/a>\u00a0has raised $34,979 of its $40,000 goal.<\/p>\n

We are hoping for the best for Richard Hoppin<\/strong>\u00a0and his wife. Share this with others so they can be up to date with the latest news.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shutterstock.com An 80-year-old in Arizona has been forced to work five days a week as a Lyft driver in order to cover basic living costs for himself… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14317,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14316"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14318,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14316\/revisions\/14318"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}