A Burger King worker has received more than £108,000 in donations after receiving a “depressing” gift for working there for 27 years - having not missed a single shift.
Kevin Ford, a 60-year-old Burger King employee from Nevada, began working at the company as a single dad to gain custody of his first two children.
When a video of Kevin being gifted a movie ticket, a bag of candy, a coffee tumbler, lanyard and some pens as a “thank you” gift went viral, word of his dedication to his job at the Las Vegas Airport branch of the burger chain spread.
Speaking to NewsNationNow, Ford said he was “happy and grateful” when given the gift.
“There's people I have worked with for 20 or 30 years and they didn't get anything. I am happy with anything,” he said.
But the gift was slammed as “depressing” and “embarrassing” by people online, with one viewer of the video tweeting “This is all y’all could do for this man?”.
Another suggested he deserved an entire franchise or an “all expense paid trip”.
People banded together when Kevin's daughter set up a GoFundMe page to give him the leaving gift she believed he deserved, pulling together 4,000 donations that came to a total $133,000 (£108,000).
Kevin said he was “overwhelmed” by the generosity.
“I've been crying for three days now. I can't believe it. I really can't,” he said.
He was unable to explain how he had never missed a shift in his 27 years of work, he said.
“I don't know myself. I don't know how i did that! Maybe I'm a robot? I just never thought about taking a day off. I just try to work as hard as I can, whatever I do,” he explained.
As Kevin’s family grew over the years he stayed at his job, he continued to work there because of the amazing health insurance, his daughter said.
She said that even though he looked young, he was coming up to retirement age, and leaving would cost him his retirement.
While the family was “in no way” asking for money, she said if anyone felt like blessing him, he would love to visit his grandchildren.
The outpouring of support had shocked the family.
“I'm here tying to get through dinner without crying! You are such remarkable people,” Seryna wrote in an update on Friday. “I seriously can't believe this. Y'all are changing his life! Thank y'all! A million times over, THANK YOU!!!!”
One of the donors was celebrity comedian David Spade, who donated $5,000 and had a private Instagram exchange with Kevin.
David told him to “keep up the good work”.
According to a screenshot of their exchange obtained by TMZ, Kevin replied: “Holy s**t dude”, accompanied by three shocked face emojis.
Kevin said he was now looking forward to having some time off.
