Car trouble didn’t stop Walter Carr from getting to his first day of work with a moving company Sunday, even if he did have to walk nearly 20 miles in the dark.
No longer: Carr was rewarded with his boss’ car after making a lasting impression on his first clients. After his 2003 Nissan Altima broke down Saturday and “backup rides fell through,” Carr set out from Homewood, Ala., at midnight en route to a home in Pelham, expecting the walk to take seven hours, homeowner Jenny Lamey writes on a GoFundMe page.
He’d traveled 14 miles before police picked him up around 4am, per WIAT. They bought Carr breakfast and a take-out lunch, then dropped him at Lamey’s home around 6:30am, per AL.com.
As the rest of the Bellhops moving crew had yet to arrive, Lamey suggested Carr take a nap. According to a viral Facebook post, he got to work instead.
“This was the first job in a long time to give me an opportunity to get hired. I wanted to show them I got the dedication,” says Carr, who moved with his mother to Alabama from New Orleans after their home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
“I just can’t tell you how touched I was,” says Lamey. Bellhops CEO Luke Marklin is on the same page.
“The grit and heart Walter showed defines Bellhops’ culture precisely … We set a high bar on service and he just raised it,” he wrote in a Sunday tweet. A day later, Marklin thanked Carr by handing over the keys to his 2014 Ford Escape, leaving Carr “trying to hold back the tears,” per AL.com.
“No matter what the challenge is, you can break through,” adds Carr, who hopes to join the Marines before getting a bachelor’s degree in physical therapy. Some $8,400 has been raised to help him on that path.
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