20-Year-Old Cook Walked 17 Miles to Work Everyday, Strangers Surprise Him With New Bike… and a Car Soon!

• Donte Franklin, 20, was walking 17 miles to and from work, for a total of about six hours almost every day!
• One sunny day, Michael Lynn spotted him running some errands and offered him a ride.
• Michael shared about him on social media and had a fundraising for Donte, and the young man received a brand-new bike and would even get a car soon!

It was a toasty day, when Michael Lynn spotted a young man running errands.

It was Donte Franklin, 20-year-old cook at Buffalo Wild Wings, who walked about eight miles for almost three hours just to get to work.

“I really don’t care if it gets tiring, I just have to keep pushing,” Franklin told Fox affiliate KOKH. “I walk just to make my family proud.”

So, when Michael spotted him on one of those long walks, he asked Donte to hitch in. That was when Michael learned more about the young man’s circumstances, whose life has been “hard” since his mother died when he was 16.

“I was going down 12th Street and I saw him,” Michael told ABC affiliate KOCO. “I was thinking, ‘Boy it’s a hot day.’ One thing led to another, and I’m finding out he’s [walking to work]… I just couldn’t believe it.”

Michael was moved to write a Facebook post about Donte, and it got the attention and “opened [the] heart” of Kerri Collins — the administrator of My Riding Buddies Oklahoma (MRBO) and Bikers for Elves, a biker charity group of which her husband is the founder

“Anytime I see something posted concerning anybody anywhere in Oklahoma, I immediately jump in and we do whatever we can do as a group,” she said. “It just touched me that this man is only 20 years old and is walking to two different jobs with nothing in the heat.”

Soon after, MRBO secured a brand-new bike for Donte, who was so happy with the blessing.

“I can really help my family with this. It’s just a really good blessing,” he told KOKH, adding to KOCO: “I really appreciate it. I’m thankful for it.”

But Michael isn’t done yet. He’s now raising money to buy Donte a car so his commute would be much easier. The kind-hearted man started a GoFundMe page, saying “He’s a great guy, always helping out with his community. He deserves this very much.”

As of this writing, the campaign has raised nearly $50,000!

“I think we need to help each other. I love this guy like my own,” Michael told KOKH. “If it can make just one person go help someone else, that’s all that matters.”

Source: PEOPLE