On February 15, 2023, highschool senior Greyson Thurman, together with a few of his classmates, posted a video on TikTok as a way to increase cash for his or her faculty janitor.
On the Callisburg ISD highschool, 80-year-old Mr. James had returned from retirement as a way to make ends meet — changing into the janitor for the training facility and tugging on the heartstrings of scholars who didn’t suppose it was truthful for him to must work.
The highschool college students raised cash for his or her 80-year-old janitor to give up his job and retire.
“That is our 80 y/o janitor who had his hire raised and needed to come again to work. Let’s assist Mr. James out!” learn the TikTok video elevating consciousness for his or her fundraising efforts. Within the video, you may see Mr. James slowly making his method down the lengthy hallway along with his cart.
“[GoFundMe] is within the bio! My classmates and I hate seeing Mr. James right here, nobody his age ought to must be cleansing our messes as much as proceed to dwell,” learn the caption. That is the one video on Thurman’s TikTok account, and boy did it go viral.
Though the video itself solely reached over 55,000 views — a comparatively small viral success for TikTok’s requirements — the impression was certainly felt when it got here all the way down to the GoFundMe.
The fundraiser was created similtaneously TikTok, and inside 9 days and because of 8,600+ donations, the Callisburg highschool college students raised $270,890 on GoFundMe.
In keeping with FOX 4, Mr. James had his hire raised by $400 — finally forcing him out of retirement to make ends meet and proceed dwelling in his residence. He had determined to work as a janitor for the college, though he had beforehand labored in a special, undisclosed profession.
“He is a tough employee. He is an older man, so he would not get round like the scholars do, however he is a employee,” stated Jason Hooper, the principal of Callisburg Excessive College.
After listening to his story, three highschool college students determined to behave.
Callisburg Excessive College senior Marti Yousko was speaking to her good friend, Banner, throughout class after they heard about Mr. James’s story. “It bought introduced up the opposite day at school and me and my good friend Banner have been like, you realize what we should always begin a GoFundMe, you realize like these issues individuals do on TikTok and it goes viral.”
Yousko and Banner enlisted the assistance of Thurman, who already had a good following on TikTok, to put up the fundraiser in hopes that it could achieve extra traction — however they by no means anticipated it to blow up like this.
“We knew being in a small city like Callisburg that individuals would wish to assist and folks would wish to help us, particularly with one thing like this, however I do not suppose we ever imagined that there’d be like information channels right here,” stated Yousko.
Initially, the plan had been to boost 10,000 {dollars}, however two days after the fundraiser had gone up, it reached over $28,000.
“I believe God referred to as us all to do it,” stated Thurman. “As soon as I heard, ‘Greyson you need to put up it,’ one thing was heavy on my coronary heart telling me, Greyson you gotta do it, and if you happen to do not this man’s going to maintain working right here.”
FOX 4 requested Mr. James for an interview, however he declined, nonetheless giving consent for his story to be shared. “He would not need any a part of the highlight. He is very appreciative of what these college students have carried out,” stated Hooper.
Fortuitously, with the sum of money they raised, they have been in a position to set Mr. James up for all times after which some.
Isaac Serna-Diez is an Assistant Editor who focuses on leisure and information, social justice, and politics. Sustain along with his rants about present occasions on his Twitter.
