A young man who has spent the past six months riding his bike six-and-a-half miles to work each day — rain or shine — recently received the gift of a lifetime from co-workers whom he considers family: a new car.
READ: Sweet Couple Refuses to Stop Being Awesome After Losing EVERYTHING in Hurricane Harvey
Noah Robinson, 19, simply wants to make a better life for himself, citing an unstable family life that has led him to work hard to improve his circumstances, even if that means braving inclement weather to get to work at Glastender, Inc., a company that makes restaurant and bar equipment.
“Six-and-a-half miles one way,” Dan McGrandy, an engineering tech at Glastender and a co-worker of Robinson said of the commute. “Rain, sleet, shine, whatever it was, he was riding his bike and he was here on time all the time.”
Robinson has been working at Glastender for the past six months, and biking was his only viable means of transportation, WNEM-TV reported.
“The only way I had to get here, you gotta get here somehow,” he said of his 46-minute bike commute.
But his co-workers recently decided to step in when they saw how hard he works. So, they pitched in and bought him a car for his 19th birthday — and Glastender, Inc. even covered the insurance.
As a result, Robinson was deeply moved and in shock, WLS-TV reported.
“I was out of words, I was crying. I was happy,” he told WNEM. “It makes me feel like blessed, like I got good people around me.”
The owner of Glastender had previously found out that Robinson didn’t have his driver’s license. So, again, the kind company took action.
“Took me out to do some road practice first,” Robinson said. “And then he took me out to do my driver’s test.”
For now, the teen is spending his time practicing on the road with his new vehicle, as his gratitude continues to overflow.
“I’ve been driving it for the whole weekend,” Robinson told WLS earlier this month. “And even though, every time I get ready to step foot in the car, I’m like, ‘I can’t believe this is happening.'”