Alabama Man Walks 20 Miles to New Job, Gets 2014 Ford Escape from Boss

His reward fit the amount of dedication and determination he put in into that single gesture: when he heard of Carr’s feat, his new boss gave him his own car as a present, AL.com reports.

Walter’s story has gone viral thanks to a post on Facebook by the woman he was supposed to help move out, on his first day with the Bellhops moving company. To get to her house at the same time with the rest of the moving crew, Walter left home in Homewood shortly after midnight, and made it to Pelham in the early hours of morning.

That’s over 20 miles. For the long trek, Walter put on comfy sports shoes, telling the woman, Jenny Lamey, that he knew the distance was great but he couldn’t afford to miss his first day at work, since he badly needed the job.

Cops picked the 20-year-old student close to Pelham and asked him if he was ok. He told them his story and they took him to a burger joint to get breakfast, and then escorted him to Lamey’s house. His story had checked out, so they felt like the least they could do was to help him and drive him to the house, since he had already walked such a great distance.

Lamey offered Walter an upstairs bedroom to nap until the rest of the crew arrived, but he refused and got to work. She was so impressed with his strong ethic that she posted his story to Facebook and started a GoFundMe page to help him out with the car repairs.

Luckily, that won’t be necessary: when he heard the story, Bellhops CEO Luke Marklin, drove down from Tennessee to meet him in person. He also gave him the keys to a barely-used 2014 Ford Escape, his own car that he didn’t use that much.

“I am honestly blown away by him,” Marklin says of Carr. “Everything he did that day is exactly who we are - heart and grit. So far, he's batting 1,000.”

Walter Carr was surprised to get a new car on his first day of work, but he wants people to know he’ll be using it to help others. He also wants his story to inspire other people to fight against the odds.

“I want people to know this - no matter what the challenge is, you can break through the challenge. Nothing is impossible unless you make it impossible,” he tells the media outlet. “You can do anything you set your mind to. I've got God by my side. I'm really emotional right now trying to hold back the tears.”