“This is the best profession in life”: Influencer raises money and helps strangers

At just 23 years old, Lucas Rodriguez, better known as “Lucas with Strangers,” is making the dreams and desires of ordinary people come true. He has nearly two million followers on the social networking site Tiktok and was nominated for a Golden Globe in the Digital Personality of the Year category.
It all started about three and a half years ago when a powerful man was robbed and suffered post-traumatic stress. It all started with social anxiety and fear of going outside. In a conversation with a friend, she came to the conclusion that to overcome her fear, she could start making videos with strangers.
After doing a few acts of kindness, giving hugs and flowers, Lucas decided to take it a step further and asked the viral question: “How can I make you happy?”

The project, which was supposed to help a TikToker overcome a post-traumatic episode, ended up becoming something more.

Jose Pereira was afraid of becoming homeless

Thanks to a report from CMTV An influential man knew about the difficult situation in which José Pereira lived in Viana do Castelo, and when he could not remain indifferent, he decided to help him.

At a time when Jose was just imagining himself to be homeless, he suddenly saw his life change. The TikToker offered him 10 thousand euros and a house with rent paid for a year. “Mr. Jose is a story that I saw because many people sent me a report from CM. We managed to collect 8,700 euros, the rest I added up to 10 thousand. [euros] and make the room more beautiful, and then we thought about what kind of maximum help we can provide. Did you know that he [Sr. José] he had just over four thousand euros of debts for which he was the guarantor, and he ended up suffering this damage that was not caused by him, so one of the goals was to pay off this debt in order to have a larger pension and be able to pay the rent.” , Lucas said in an interview with the publication morning Post.

Not giving up, the influencer then thought of looking for a house with the money he had left, about five thousand euros, and took the help of a follower. “There was a day when I went to record the first part of the video with Mr. Jose and his follower who saw my story. [no Instagram] a few days before, he saw us recording. He came to us and said that he had a T3 that his parents were going to rent. He asked how much money we had, I told him realistically how much and he made a huge discount,” he said.

The influencer, who turns strangers into happy people, also said that he continues to follow Jose Pereira and that at the end of the year he will be there “to guide him.”
Videos were posted on social media showing Jose’s happiness as he cried tears of joy and couldn’t believe what was happening to him.

Money comes from subscriber donations

Lucas considers himself “just a bridge” between the community and people in need of help. And he claims that most of the money comes from followers.
“Part of the money is collected, part of the money is also mine, that is, ultimately it’s all from the page, but the part that comes from my subscribers are donations, these are people who actually decided to join the project. “

The TikToker says that he has never managed to raise such a high amount of money and that sometimes it becomes difficult to understand that he has such influence. “It gave me back hope in humanity,” he said, adding that some people donated money for the first time.

To this day, Lucas doesn’t know how he managed to gain the trust of the community, but he believes it’s largely down to the videos he makes. “The videos have a very powerful impact. Everything here is very straightforward, you know exactly who you are helping, what the reason is and what kind of help will be provided. I say everything before I help. I say this is what we do. We’re going to spend money on , that’s the money we need, and that’s the situation. If you help, you will know that you were part of history, and I think it is very simple,” he added.

An influencer who hates social media

Despite thousands of followers, for Lucas, social media “became a terrible addiction.” “Networking is wonderful as a path to goodness, but it is a terrible vice. I think they have more bad sides than good ones,” he said.

The young man often communicates with his subscribers through the broadcast channel on Instagram, which has about 10 thousand people. He says it’s much more practical to send a message and not worry about the image.

After providing assistance, the TikToker tries to contact the person to make sure “the money is safe and well spent” and states that some people continue to call him a year later “just to say thank you.”

There are days when everything changes. The powerhouse behind one of the most influential and supportive projects already has an extensive team helping him select stories and bring desires to life, and he intends to continue to do so for a long time.

The young TikToker went to university with the goal of studying management, but ended up dropping out of the course and currently has no plans to return. “This is the best profession in life. And although it is extremely tiring, my heart is full and warm,” he said.