A kind stranger has raised more than $80,000 for a pianist who spends his days tinkling the ivories and raising spirits at Atlanta Airport.

When Instagram influencer, motivational speaker and author Carlos Whittaker posted a video of Tonee “Valentine” Carter “playing his heart out” to his Instagram, noting that “hardly anyone” was noticing him, he had no idea the response his fans would have.

Whittaker said that when his flight home to Tennessee was rerouted to Atlanta International Airport last week, he was “super bummed”.

“As I was walking through the concourse, I heard someone playing the piano, and I just had to walk by them,” he told CNN.

“There was Tonee, going down and going to town, and I knew I just had to stay there.”

Whittaker told his followers that after listening to Carter’s beautiful music, he was compelled to invite him over for a chat.

He learned that the musician undergoes dialysis for kidney disease nine hours each night then goes and plays the piano at the airport for four hours each day.

Noticing Carter’s tip jar was empty, the motivational speaker, who has more than 220,000 followers on Instagram, asked his fans to send in money.

“Thirty minutes later and after a 20-minute conversation getting to know him, we tipped Tonee … US$10,000 ($13,000) which has grown to US$61,000 ($83,000),” Whittaker said.

 

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A post shared by Carlos Whittaker (@loswhit)

Carter told CNN that he thought Whittaker was kidding.

“That just doesn’t happen,” he said.

“I didn’t know how to feel. This is the kind of the thing I do. I love giving and donating and helping people, but I never expected someone to do it for me.

“It has had me crying for days, not because of the total, but because of the individual donations.

“I looked through all the donations and saw so many that were US$0.50, US$1, US$2. My heart palpitated because I knew they were giving me what they had. People were giving out of love.”

He plans to give the money to others, after he has his car oiled, he joked.

“That US$60,000 is not mine. It’s money that’s going to go to others,” Carter said. “There is only one way to say thank you, because words are inadequate. And that is to pay this forward.”

 

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A post shared by Toneepianoman (@toneepianoman)

Since Whittaker’s act went viral, Carter has clocked more than 16,000 followers on Instagram, with many posting comments to his photos promising to visit him and watch him play the next time they are passing through Atlanta.

Featured image source: Instagram/loswhit