An Arkansas man will no longer have to rely on his feet to carry him to and from work, thanks to his generous co-workers.
Trenton Lewis, 21, has gone the extra mile for his job at UPS, leaving his home in downtown Little Rock just before midnight to get to the loading dock by 4 a.m., local station WATV reported. This has been his reality for the last seven months.
“I’ll just be here before 4 o’clock, so it will probably take me 2 and 1/2, almost 3 hours,” Lewis said of his daily walk. “I had music in my head and I was just walking. Not worried about nothing, I was just moving my feet.”
Trekking through the sketchiest of neighborhoods in the cold, rain or shine, Lewis said he’s never been late and he’s never missed a shift. The job is just too important, he said.
“It got more important to me when I had my daughter,” Lewis told the news station. “I knew I had to step up. I didn’t have a job when she was born.”
Co-worker Kenneth Bryant learned of the young man’s daily trek from his wife and decided he wanted to help. So, he began collecting donations to purchase Lewis a reliable car.
“Man, that’s got to be a dedicated young man to walk to work,” Bryant said.
Things slowly came together and Bryant eventually had enough to buy Lewis a car. It was the third car, he said, as the first two he considered had fallen through. After fixing a small nick in the front bumper, Bryant said he was ready to reveal the big surprise.
“He just pulled some keys out of his pocket and I’m like, ‘That can’t be mine. Those keys cannot be mine,’ ” Lewis said of the moment he learned he had his own set of wheels. “He brought them to me and my heart just dropped. I’m like, ‘This can’t be real.'”
Bryant said he fought back tears as well, saying “I almost lost it myself one time.”
Lewis’ days of leaving home at midnight are long gone. The young man said he now starts his day at 3:30 a.m.
“Feels good because it’s just me and the car,” he said. “I don’t have to use my feet no more.”
Check a clip of the surprise unfolding. Video provided by Fred Stephens Facebook https://www.facebook.com/mr.fstephens/videos/vb.832579543/10156013531129544/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab
