Burger King worker who hasn’t missed work in 27 years receives £320,000 in donations
A Burger King worker who went viral after it was revealed he hadn’t missed a day of work in almost 30-years has received more than £320,000 in donations.
Kevin Ford went viral in June last year after a video of him opening up a goodie bag that he was given after 27-years of service was shared online.
The cook/cashier, who worked at the Burger King in the Las Vegas airport, was handed a small see-through bag included a bag of Reese's, a Starbucks reusable cup, two pens and one movie ticket.
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Speaking to TMZ, Ford said he was grateful for the present but that it felt like ‘stuff they had laying around’.
"I'm happy about anything, I'm thankful for anything I get, I'm not that type of person, believe me. I've been through a lot,” he said.
"It's a great company, you know, I've been there 27 years. But like most big corporations, they've kind of lost touch with their workers, and through covid and whatever, they started cutting out programs."
He added: "We used to get cheques for 20 years, and that's what I actually thought that movie ticket was.
"I was like 'hey, they finally gave me my card', and then I saw it was not even two movie tickets – it was one.
"So I was like 'this is just too much', and [it seemed] it was just stuff they had laying around that they put together."
And it seemed like others agreed - because shortly after the video was shared online, his daughter Seryna set up a GoFundMe and pretty soon donations began to flood in.
On the page, Seryna explained why her dad at stayed at the fast-food chain for so long.
“He originally began working at this job as a single father when he gained custody of me and my older sister 27 years ago,” she wrote.
“Then as our family grew and he remarried, he continued to work there because of the amazing health insurance that was provided through this employer because it was unionised.
"This got all four of his daughters through high school and college with full healthcare coverage.”
Seryna said she was ‘in no way asking for money’ or ‘expecting’ donations, but that if anyone did want to ‘bless’ Ford by dropping a few dollars the money would be used for him to visit his grandchildren.
Since then - and as of August 10 - the fundraiser has pulled in a staggering $407,639 (£320,251) including a $5,000 (£3,928) donation from actor David Spade.
Topics: Money, US News, Food And Drink
Claire Reid