A Burger King employee who went viral in June for receiving a mediocre gift bag from the company he’s worked at for 27 years has received over $284,000 in donations from a GoFundMe campaign started by his daughter.
In all his years working as a cook and cashier at the Burger King at the Las Vegas McCarran International Airport, Kevin Ford hasn’t missed a single scheduled day of work.
He posted a video of himself opening the gift bag the company sent him, in which he appeared truly appreciative of the gifts he received, which were a reusable Starbucks cup, two pens, a single movie ticket, and some cheap candy.
The video went viral, and on June 20, his daughter Seryna Ford created the GoFundMe fundraiser to honor her father’s dedication to his work. Her original goal was a simple $200 to gift him a trip to visit his grandchildren, but that goal was blown out of the water by the show of support from people who heard his story.
Seryna wrote in the description, “The man in that video is my father. He has worked at his job for 27 years and yes, he has never missed a day of work. He originally began working at this job as a single father when he gained custody of me and my older sister 27 years ago. 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 unionized. This got all four of his daughters through high school and college with full healthcare coverage.”
“My dad continues to work there, because though he does look young, he is coming up on retirement age and leaving would cost him his retirement,” she went on. “In no way are we asking for money or is he expecting any money but if anyone feels like blessing him he would love to visit his grandchildren.”
As of Friday morning, the fundraiser has seen over 9.1k in donations from around the world.
Ford told TMZ he planned to use the money to buy a new car and visit his family in Texas.
The biggest surprise for Ford came from actor and comedian David Spade, who donated $5,000 to the fundraiser and commented, “Keep up the good work,” to which Ford replied, “I love you my brother! Much love and God bless…I think I might be able to take a day off.”
Ford was brought onto the Today show to talk about the outpouring of support, and the show surprised him with an emotional reunion with his daughter and grandchildren.