I want to tell you about a young man named Willie. Willie and his mother packed up from Miami in search of a better life. They chose to find that place in Charlotte, NC. Once they came to Charlotte, Willie was determined to get a job and start making money. This man showed up on one of our job sites one day dressed down! He approached our safety man and said, “Sir, I would like a job. I want to work. What do I have to do to get a job?” Our safety man was super impressed with how he presented himself, and frankly, just the way he showed up the way he did out of nowhere, desperately wanting to work. He led him in the right direction as far as filling out an application and, lo and behold, Willie got hired! He was hired to work out of our Matthews lot. This is where I tell you about the kind of man Willie is. Willie doesn’t have a car. But Willie does have a scooter. Now, I know what you’re thinking because I thought the same thing. But no, the scooter Willie has is an electric stand-on scooter (like the Lime scooters you can rent and ride around). This man was commuting back and forth from the Newell area to Matthews on this scooter! He was at work every day and on time and worked his tail off. The guys he was working with found out about this and arranged to move him to our Newell lot, which is MUCH closer.
Now, fast forward to when he started with us. Like the first day, he asked me if I could drop him off at the light and he would ride his scooter from there. When we got to the light, I asked him, “You’re about to ride that scooter down WT Harris at 5 o’clock?” I said, “Man, where do you live?” He told me, and I said, “Man, I’ll just take you home. I don’t want you riding that thing out here. You’re gonna get hit and killed out here.” So I took him home that day and I showed him an alternate route that would work better to his benefit (so I thought). It was a less heavily traveled route and I felt it would be much safer for him.
Well, fast forward a few weeks, he had been working with us, and on Tuesday, June 10th, 2025, Willie didn’t show up for work. Willie hadn’t called. Nobody had heard from Willie. That wasn’t like Willie. He was always at work, and early at that! At work, we knew something was off. And in the early hours of that morning, we received news from his mother that he had been hit by a car, on his scooter, on the way to work. Our hearts sank. We soon found out that Willie was still alive, but he was in the hospital and had to have surgery on his leg. Willie broke his femur. Now mind you, when he got hit, the words coming out of his mouth were, “Man, I’m missing work.” This man just got hit by a car and was worried about missing work!
As soon as I found out he was riding a stand-on electric scooter to work, I admired him and his dedication. He is such an inspiration to me and many others by his dedication to make it happen. No excuses, he’s making it happen. I’m making this to try and raise money for him while he’s out of work trying to recover from this accident. He hasn’t been with the company long enough, so his insurance unfortunately hasn’t kicked in and he will not be able to get disability while he’s out. You don’t have to feel obligated to donate anything, but I’m just saying that anything donated will help him. Willie is a dedicated and loyal young man who is gonna need help in the coming months financially and like he has shown how he makes it happen, I’m trying to make it happen for him. If you find it in your heart to donate, I upfront thank you from the bottom of my heart. Even if you can’t donate, share this and let’s make it happen for Willie!
