Man’s 20-mile walk to job leads to generosity
Walter Carr sent his friends a flurry of increasingly pleading text messages. The college student’s car had broken down, and he was supposed to begin his new job as a mover the next morning — at a home 20 miles from his apartment near Birmingham, Ala.
He struck out finding a ride, but he wasn’t about to miss his first day of work at a moving company called Bellhops. Carr, 20, needed the work. He mulled his predicament and concluded there was only one option: He would walk it. He began at midnight.
At one point, a police car pulled up, and the officer, identified by the news site AL.com as Mark Knighten, asked if Carr was all right. Carr said yes and explained what he was doing.
After buying Carr breakfast, Knighten drove him a few miles toward his job and dropped him at a church, saying it was a safe place to be. Knighten had to leave because of a shift change, but he said another officer would be by in a few hours to check on Carr, and perhaps give him a ride to work.
But after Carr got to the church, he became concerned he might not make it on time. So around 5:30 a.m., he started walking again.
Carr was walking on a twolane road, and sure enough, a police officer came up and said he’d heard about him. That officer, identified by AL.com as Scott Duffey, drove Carr the last 4 miles to his job.
At 6:30 a.m., Duffey walked up to the house where Carr was supposed to meet the other movers for the job and explained to homeowner Jenny Lamey what had happened.
“The officer told me, ‘I’ve got this nice kid in my car. He’s Walter Carr had jobs in the past as a cook at fast-food restaurants, but this paid better, and he needed the money for an apartment he’d recently rented. a great kid; he’s been walking all night to get to your house,’” Lamey said. “That’s when the tears started coming. I just started crying.”
The other two movers from Bellhops showed up shortly after, and the three of them moved the Lameys across town to their new house. Everyone got along as if they were old friends, Carr and Lamey said.
After the move, Carr played basketball with the Lameys’ sons, ages 11, 13 and 16.
Lamey said she has no idea how he had the energy for it.
“I can’t imagine what kept him going,” Lamey said. “What came over him physically was supernatural. I think God helped him through.”
Lamey said this is just the beginning of what she hopes is a long friendship between Carr and her family.
One of Carr’s new co-workers gave him a ride home.
The following day, Lamey called Carr’s supervisor, and the two cried together on the phone about what Carr had done.
Lamey posted the story on Facebook, and it took off. She started a GoFundMe with a goal of $2,000 to help him with his car troubles. As of Wednesday morning, it had raised more than $37,000. Lamey said all the money will go to Carr, and a financial adviser has volunteered to help him manage it.
On Sunday, Carr’s boss, Bellhops chief executive Luke Marklin, called to thank him. Marklin said he wanted to meet him in person to show his appreciation. They agreed to meet Monday at a coffee shop near Carr’s apartment.
Carr walked the 20 minutes there.
When they met, Marklin gave him his own car, a 2014 Ford Escape. He said it would be in better hands with Carr than with him.