A Burger King employee celebrated twenty-seven years of perfect attendance in never missing a day of work or using his sick time, and received a goodie bag for his decades worth of service!
Longtime employee Kevin Ford took to TikTok last year to share the reward he received from the fast food chain following his years of dedication. Within the now-viral video, Kevin proudly went through the gifts he received for his attendance at the Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport located restaurant.
“I’ve worked here 27 years, never missed not one day of work, never even called out,” said Kevin as he happily displayed the bag’s contents. He pulled on a plastic drawstring backpack that contained a movie ticket, a Starbucks cup, a bag of Reese’s Pieces, two packs of Life Savers, two pens, a lanyard, and two keychains.
Kevin moved on to say “This is my reward for working 27 years. Thank you guys.”
The TikTok video gained major traffic as fellow users entered his comment section to call out the Burger King franchise for failing to do a better job in showing appreciation for Kevin’s dedication.
According to People Magazine, Kevin’s daughter Seryna says she noticed that the video had made its way to Twitter and that folks suggested that a GoFundMe be created.
Sources state that Seryna launched a GoFundMe account on her father’s behalf the following day.
“He originally began working at this job as a single father when he gained custody of me and my older sister 27 years ago,” read the campaign’s description. “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.”
Seryna wrote that the family is not expecting money from anyone but that they are open to anyone who would like to bless them. She also added, “he would love to visit his grandchildren.”
Reports read that within the first two days of the fundraiser, Seryna had to repeatedly update the GoFundMe page’s goal. The changes came from thanking donors for their support in raising the goal. She originally started out with a goal of $2,700 to $27,000 to $100,000.
“It was very surreal. It felt like a dream,” Seryna said to PEOPLE. “I was just like, this wasn’t really happening because stuff like that doesn’t happen and it definitely doesn’t happen to people like us.”
“I think people wanted to be a part of something beautiful for once and this is beautiful. It’s a miracle,” Kevin tells the outlet.
Seryna added that she, “think[s] it was that everyone else saw their dad or their husband or themselves or their mom – the person that provides – and they saw themselves in him.”
PEOPLE reports that Kevin and Seryna have raised over $420,000 from a total of 14,000 donors, including actor David Spade.
It has been indicated that the funds raised are going to be used as a contribution towards Kevin’s retirement. Seryna explained in the fundraiser’s description, “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.”
“I still work at the same place, C Gate’s Burger King. I still drive Uber and DoorDash on the weekends,”said Kevin.
Kevin has been able to reunite with both daugter Seryna and his grandchildren a part of a segment on the TODAY show in 2022.
Seryna says that he’s going to surprise his grandchildren again this year for his birthday in August.
“For my birthday, I flew out here and we’re surprising them when they get out of school because their granddad’s in town. So, I get to see them today.”