A waiter's job can be really tiring, so picture having to ride your bike for three hours to get to work on top of that. It sounds gruesome, but that was what a man named Samson Adams had to do to support his family. After learning that the Texas Roadhouse server had been cycling from Livingston County to his workplace in Paducah, Kentucky, some 30 miles away, staff and customers rallied around him to buy him a car.
Adams had been working at the restaurant for the past month, dealing with the strenuous commute under the late spring heat. “I had no choice but to use a manual bike, and then that went out, and then God came and blessed me with all this,” Adams told WSPD.
After a few weeks, Texas Roadhouse community ambassador Joelle Long and her husband Ryan noticed Adams was tired at work. When they asked him if something was wrong, they both learned his story. “I started picking him up. We started talking,” said Long. “The more I talked to him, the more I get to know him, the more I loved him. The more I felt like this guy really deserves someone to give him a little bit of help.”
Long got an idea—she shared Adams' story on Facebook and launched a GoFundMe campaign. “Please help this employee who rides his bike 3 hours to and from work get a car for his family… it would really change their future,” Long wrote on the fundraiser page. His Texas Roadhouse coworkers, as well as regular customers, were profoundly moved by his dedication and decided to donate to the cause.
Since Long found an $800 car, she set the fundraiser target at $1,000, as she hoped the extra couple hundred would cover insurance and gas. The response was so incredible that the goal was met and surpassed overnight. Excited to give him the good news, Long called Adams over at work and captured the moment she told him on video. The clip, which was then shared on Facebook, shows Adams quickly going from surprised to deeply moved. “You bought me a car? What?” the man exclaims as he cries tears of joy.
Looking back at the moment, he recalls being taken aback by the news. “I thought I was in trouble … I forgot to do something or maybe I shouldn't have ate that piece of bread on camera,” he said. “You know, something simple like that. And she was like no, you're not in trouble, I got news for you. We got you a car. Just basically I didn't know what to think.”
In the end, the campaign raised $6,295, and Long has announced that the leftover money will be used to help him relocate his family into a new apartment that's not too far away from his workplace. In the meantime, with the new car, his three-hour bike ride to work has been shortened into a 30-minute drive.
Adams has described the gift as a true blessing, and is deeply grateful to the community that got together to help him. “Thank you very much Paducah,” he said. “Come and see me at Texas Roadhouse. My name is Samson. I'll be the best server I can be.”
After learning that a server named Samson Adams had been riding his bike for three hours to get to work at a Texas Roadhouse in Kentucky, staff and customers pitched in to buy him a car.
“I had no choice but to use a manual bike, and then that went out, and then God came and blessed me with all this,” said Adams.
Texas Roadhouse community ambassador Joelle Long, who launched the fundraiser, shared a video of the moment she gave Adams the news.
h/t: [WRAL]
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