For the past 10 years, James Robertson commuted and walked 21 miles a day just to get to and from work, but now, thanks to a fund-raising campaign held under his name and the kind-hearted souls who donated, Robertson is the proud owner of a 2015 Ford Taurus.
It was the car Robertson always dreamed of having and it came with a $35,000 price tag.
"I really couldn't express how I'm feeling right now about this whole thing," Michigan-based Robertson told Fox & Friends.
His story was first reported by the Detroit Free Press. Robertson works at a plastics factory in Rochester Hills and earns less than $11 an hour, but he considers his work very important to him so even without a car, he walks day in and out just to get to the workplace.
A student named Evan Leedy saw his plight and decided to start a campaign online in www.gofundme.com. Over 13,000 individuals have so far donated and the campaign has earned around $351,000!
Both Robertson and Leedy are overwhelmed by the support they have received, and Leedy remains inspired by Robertson's humility.
"Before James drove off in his new car to go home, he gave me a big hug and said, 'It's not even about the money and the car, it's about random strangers like you and Blake wanting to help a guy like me just doing what I was blessed to do.'" Of course, the tears in my eyes started flowing but at that moment I knew James is still the same guy he was seven days ago," Leedy shared in the website.
For his part, Robertson said that he simply made the daily trek without any fuss because nobody wanted to hear his complaints.
"There were times I was thinking that sometimes I didn't want to go on, but then a voice inside of me said leave it alone because your girlfriend don't want to hear about, your boss don't want to hear about it, your co-workers don't want to hear about and your friends don't want to hear about it," he said.
When he finally drove his new car, Robertson was almost in tears. It was his first drive since 1988 when his old Honda broke down on him. Since he is unfamiliar with cars' new technologies, a staff from the local Ford car dealership will be teaching Robertson how to operate his new car.
