Hundreds Donate More Than $60K to Help Buy Car for Detroit Man, James Robertson, Who Walks 21 Miles a Day for Work
A 56-year-old man who's been walking 21 miles a day, five days a week roundtrip to get to work for several years is set to get the lift of a lifetime after hundreds of people donated more than $60,000 in one day to help him get a car, and many more donations continued pouring in as of Monday evening.
A story in Sunday's Detroit Free Press by Bill Laitner about the arduous commute of James Robertson who has a perfect attendance record at Schain Mold & Engineering in Rochester Hills where he's worked for more than 12 years, sparked the heartwarming movement to get Robertson a car.
According to the report, Robertson's Honda Accord quit on him in 2005 and the situation forced him to start taking the bus to work because he couldn't afford to get a new one. Over time, with repeated cutbacks in bus service in the area, Robertson's commute on foot grew to a total of 21 miles roundtrip — 8 miles to work and 13 miles on the return leg.
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Evan Leedy, 19, of Macomb Township and a Wayne State University student, started a gofundme campaign to help Robertson after reading his story and it went viral quickly.
"I just used my phone. I created the go-funding site and within an hour we had $2,000," he told the Detroit Free Press.
"I set the goal at the beginning of $5,000. Right now my page has more than $30,000" he noted as of 6 p.m. Sunday.
When a reporter told Robertson what was happening, he replied: "Are you serious?"
The campaign has been shared nearly 5,000 times on social media as of Monday evening and people inspired by Robertson's story have just kept on giving.
"Walking is good, but James has walked enough for now," said Steve Colt, one of nearly 2,000 donors to the campaign on Monday evening.
When asked how he feels about the possibility of a federal program providing him with a small-bus service that would pick him up and drop him off from his job temporarily he declined.
"I'd rather they spent that money on a 24-hour bus system, not on some little bus for me. This city needs buses going 24/7. You can tell the city council and mayor I said that," said Robertson.
Blake Pollock, a UBS banker who befriended Robertson and has given him rides after noticing his commute while traveling to his office in Troy, wants to help Robertson set up a board "of several professionals" to oversee the donations coming in for his new friend.
"Putting a car in his driveway and just handing James the keys or filling his pockets with cash is not the answer. But with these resources now, we should be able to do something very positive for the guy," explained Pollock, a vice president at UBS.
"I think the hundreds of donors want this to go to James and not have this go out of his hands. So, if we can set up this little board to manage his money, I think that can happen.
"When I'm with him tomorrow (Monday), I'm going to talk to him about that," said Pollock.
Since the story broke, others have also offered to give Robertson cars and cash to help him get to work.
Click here to donate to Robertson's transportation fund and learn more about his story.
