Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

UPS worker, Clinton do lunch

- MAGGIE MCNEARY

Former President Bill Clinton treated a Little Rock UPS worker to lunch July 14 after reading a story about him on CNN that attracted worldwide attention earlier this year.

The story recounted how Trenton Lewis, 21, walked 11 miles to work each day at the UPS distributi­on center at 5501 Fourche Dam Pike in Little Rock because he didn’t have a vehicle, and how his co- workers raised about $1,200 to buy him a car.

Clinton in February invited Lewis to a meal at the 42 Bar and Table restaurant at the Clinton Presidenti­al Center, and Lewis, his daughter and co- workers took the president up on the offer earlier this month.

Lewis said that after walking to work from September 2017 to February, he was overwhelme­d and thankful to receive the 2006 Saturn Ion from his co-workers. He’s now been a package handler with UPS for 10 months.

“I’ve seen stuff like that on social media. Not once did I ever think it would happen to me,” he said.

Lewis said he can now take his daughter — who will turn 2 in October — to her doctors appointmen­ts or wherever she wants or needs to go.

“I’m able to move around a lot more,” he said.

As for deciding to go to lunch with Clinton, Lewis said he “just figured that I’d never met a president.”

He said he had fun at lunch. Clinton didn’t order anything to eat, Lewis said, though he did take a few fries from Lewis’ plate.

They talked about American history, Vietnam and other topics.

“The experience was great,” Lewis said.

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