Walter Carr, 20, was in a predicament. The Birmingham, Alabama, native had just gotten a new job with the moving company Bellhops when his car broke down the night before his first shift.
The young college student couldn’t afford to miss his first day. He had just rented a new apartment and could really use the cash. He phoned everyone he could think of hoping to get a ride, but sadly, no one could help him.
Walter’s first moving job was a house in Pelham, approximately 20 miles from his Homewood-area apartment.
Trying to brainstorm a way to make it, he came up with a crazy plan. “I sat there and I thought, ‘How can I get to my job? What streets would I walk through? How long would it take me to get there?'” he said in an interview with The Washington Post.
According to Google Maps, it would take Walter a whopping 8 hours to walk from his home to the job in Pelham— but it was the only option he had.
Because he had been a cross-country runner in high school, he had a feeling he could make it in less time. At 8 PM, Walter ate a meal of eggs and bologna before taking a little nap.
His alarm rang at midnight, and from there, he was off— hoping to make it in time for his 6:30 AM job.
By 4 AM, Walter had reached the outskirts of Pelham, but it would still be a few hours before he would get to the house he had to move. Before walking the long stretch of highway in front of him, he decided to take a break.
While Walter was resting, he was approached by an officer who asked what he was doing out so late. “This is crazy,” the young man responded, “but I’m actually heading to work. It’s my first day on the job.”
Inspired by the young man’s plight, the officer treated him to a meal and dropped him off at a church parking lot that was closer to his destination. He told Walter he was ending his shift shortly, but another policeman would be by to check on him in a few hours and possibly give him a ride to work.
Walter waited at the church in Pelham, but by 5:30 AM, he was scared he wouldn’t make it on time and started walking again.
On his walk, the second officer caught up to him and drove him the rest of the way. When they got to the house Walter would be moving, the policeman told the homeowner, Jenny Lamay, the entire story.
“The officer told me, ‘I’ve got this nice kid in my car. He’s a great kid, he’s been walking all night to get to your house.'”
“That’s when the tears started coming. I just started crying.”
The woman offered Walter some food and a bed to sleep in, but the young man said he’d rather get the job started now.
Walter and the crew moved Jenny’s entire home— and afterward, he played basketball with her sons. “He’s such a humble, kind-hearted person,” Jenny said. “He’s really incredible.”
“He said it was the way he was raised.”
“Nothing is impossible unless you say it’s impossible.”
Jenny was so inspired by Walter, she started a GoFundMe with a goal of $2,000 towards his car repairs and shared the story on Facebook. She also contacted the young man’s supervisor who took the news all the way to Luke Marklin, the CEO of the company.
When the CEO heard the lengths Walter had gone through to make it on his first day, he immediately contacted the young man and told him he wanted to show him his appreciation in person.
When Walter got to the coffee shop, the CEO gave him the car he had been driving— his own personal, 2014 Ford Escape.
“We set a really high bar for heart and grit and… you just blew it away,” Marklin told him.
As media outlets caught on to the story, Jenny’s GoFundMe also started to inflate. In fact, The Washington Post last reported it had hit over $44,000.
In response to the events, Walter said:
“The lesson of my story is it’s great to reach people; I always wanted to inspire people.”
“Don’t let nobody tell you that you can’t do something. It’s up to us whether we can.”
Hear his inspiring story below!
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