Co-workers buy car for man who had to walk hours to work

Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Coworkers give man who walked to work a car
Imagine walking several hours to work, finishing your shift and then walking home

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas -- Imagine walking several hours to work, finishing your shift and then walking home. For seven months that was the norm for one UPS employee, but not anymore.

Trenton Lewis, 21, goes the extra mile for his job at UPS. Actually, it's several miles. To start loading trucks by 4 a.m., he starts walking from his home in downtown Little Rock before midnight.

"I'll just be here before 4 o'clock, so it will probably take me 2 and 1/2, almost 3 hours," Lewis said.

In the rain, or cold, through some rough areas of town, he walked.

"Had music in my head, I was just walking. Not worried about nothing, I was just moving my feet," Lewis said.

Never missed a shift, never even been late, the job is too important to him, reports KATV.

"It got more important to me when I had my daughter. I knew I had to step up. I didn't have a job when she was born," Lewis said.

When Kenneth Bryant's wife mentioned Trent's daily trek, the veteran driver knew he wanted to help out.

"Man, that's got to be a dedicated young man to walk to work," Bryant said.

Kenneth, started collecting donations.

"I was like, man, it's coming together, it's coming together, slowly, slowly, slowly," Bryant said.

Eventually, he got enough and found a reliable car.

"That's the third car because a couple of them fell through," Bryant said.

He even went so far as to fix a nick in the front bumper, wanting everything to be perfect for the big surprise.

They told Trent, it was a union meeting in the parking lot, then Kenneth reached into his pocket.

"He just pulled some keys out of his pocket and I'm like, 'That can't be mine. Those keys cannot be mine.' He brought them to me and my heart just dropped. I'm like, 'This can't be real,'" Lewis said.

"I had to try to keep my emotions in check. I almost lost it myself one time," Bryant said.

Nowadays, Trent leaves for work at 3:30 a.m.

"Feels good because it's just me and the car. I don't have to use my feet no more," he said.

No more long walks, but definitely some lasting friendships. Trent had been working extra shifts, saving up and planned to buy a car this year.