A custodian at a Tennessee elementary school, who walks two miles and takes three buses to get to work, broke down in tears after parents and teachers started a GoFundMe campaign to help him buy a car. https://t.co/oITfpmzqyj pic.twitter.com/LNDvmwZexM
— CNN (@CNN) February 21, 2020
School employees at Farmington Elementary School in Germantown, Tennessee and parents within the community all came together to help thank the school custodian.
60-year-old Robert Reed is a custodian at the elementary school and coworkers noticed that Reed didn’t have a car. He had been working at the school for about 4 months and in order to get to his new job he had to take multiple buses, plus walk two miles just to get to school, only to have to do the same on the way home. Reed told WMC5,
“Let’s say I get off at 3 p.m., then I get home around 7 p.m…I have to catch three buses and walk two miles. All the teachers have taken me to the bus stop. They even gave me money when I didn’t have any. I’m telling you, Farmington is a family here.”
He wasn’t wrong when he called them a family. That ‘family’ really showed up for Reed in the last few days with a GoFundMe campaign. They started the campaign to allow coworkers and the community to donate towards getting Reed a truck.
Since the GoFundMe was posted, the community raised more than $47,000, way surpassing it’s goal of $10,000.