Is commuting the worst part of your day?
Let us assure you it is nothing compared to 56-year-old Detroit resident James Robertson’s (more than) half marathon to work and back. Robertson walks an insane 21 miles five times a week to get to his job in Rochester Hills because bus lines don’t cover the majority of his route.
All of a sudden your trek to school uphill both ways is looking mighty manageable.
His take on the daily grind: “No one can say I didn’t pay my dues in life. No one.”
After a perfect attendance record over a 12-year period, the collective good of the Internet is banding together to lighten the load on his legs and supply Robertson with a set of wheels for the first time since 2005, when his Honda Accord filed for early retirement.
A GoFundMe fundraiser set up by 19-year-old Evan Leedy has raised over $180,000 (its initial goal was $5,000) to provide Robertson with a car and cover subsequent maintenance and insurance costs, which are the highest in the United states. Local car dealerships have even offered to gift him a car of his choice.
Robertson is understandably flattered by the response, but also recognized the importance of bigger issues at hand when he heard news of a new federal program that might provide a small-bus service that would pick Robertson up at home.
“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,” he says.
The fundraiser has accumulated an additional $3580 since we wrote the first sentence of this article – good work, Internet, keep it up.
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