Every day, Trenton Lewis, 21, walks 5.5 miles from his home to his job at the UPS center in Little Rock, Ark. And then he makes that trip back home.
Lewis says he gets up in the middle of the night to get to work by 4 a.m. Sometimes he would get rides, but most of the time he walks. He’s had the same routine for the past seven months.
“I don’t want to miss work at all,” Lewis said. “I wanted to be with my daughter, to be able to support her. I wanted to be a father.”
Lewis didn’t tell many people how he got to the office, but Kenneth Bryant found out.
“If someone has that type of determination, I’d be willing to help them,” UPS clerk Kenneth Bryant said. “We just wanted to lend somebody a helping hand.”
Bryant started asking around to see if coworkers would pitch in and buy Lewis a car.
“That’s a young man that wants to work and will do whatever it takes to be successful,” Bryant said.
After seeing his hardship, his co-workers teamed up to buy Lewis his own car.
“They were astonished that someone would get up at that time of morning, at night, and walk to work that far,” Bryant said.
Eventually the coworkers raised $2,000 for a car and in a Facebook Live video, Lewis’ work family surprised him with the keys to a car.
“This is my first car,” said a shocked Lewis. “I have great, awesome coworkers. I had no idea. I guess they are very good secret holders.”
Now, Lewis has his keys, a UPS keychain and a new car, thanks to his coworkers.
“I knew things were going to get better if I kept coming to work so, that’s just what I did.”
(Story from www.arkansasmatters.com)
