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Bob Collins

New car for college kid who walked 20 miles to his new job

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There's a story racing around the internet today of just how far a person will go to get to work on time and, predictably and understandably, the reaction to it is an expression of just how uncommon it is. But it's not. The world is full of hard workers who are invisible to many of us, because we're asleep or we don't know their story.

Walter Carr's story is getting all the recognition it deserves, however. He was hired by a moving company but the day before his first day on the job last Friday, his car broke down.

He was supposed to be at Jenny Lamey's house at 8 a.m. Without a car, he started walking there. At midnight.

https://www.facebook.com/jenny.lamey/posts/10214187127164485

Four hours into his hike, the cops stopped him. They took him to breakfast, then stashed him at a church because they figured he'd be safer there until they could pick up and take him to Lamey's house for his first day on the job.

Lamey set up a GoFundMe page to help Walter out. As of this afternoon, it had raised $11,000 on a $2,000 goal.

On Monday, he got something else from the company he didn't want to disappoint, the Birmingham News reports. He got a new car.

"This was the first job in a long time to give me an opportunity to get hired,'' Walter tells the Birmingham News. "I wanted to show them I got the dedication. I said I'm going to get to this job one way or another.''

"I want people to know this - no matter what the challenge is, you can break through the challenge. Nothing is impossible unless you make it impossible,'' he said. "You can do anything you set your mind to. I've got God by my side. I'm really emotional right now trying to hold back the tears."