Brighten Your Day

80-Year-Old Janitor May Get To Retire Again, Thanks To Kindness Of Students

February 23, 2023

Seniors at a high school in Texas are trying to help an 80-year-old janitor retire from the workforce, again.

Mr. James / GoFundMe

Mr. James was retired but had to come out of retirement due to the cost of living crisis in the US. He took a job as a custodian at Callisburg High School.

"It's just so sad seeing an 80 year old man having to do things an 80 year old shouldn't have to do," Callisburg senior Banner Tidwell told KXII.

Senior Greyson Thurman uploaded a video of Mr. James to TikTok with a link to a GoFundMe page.

@grey.thurman Go fund me is in the bio! My classmates and I hate seeing Mr. James here, no one his age should have to be cleaning our messes up to continue to live. #fyp#school#gofundme#fy#mrjames ♬ snowfall - Øneheart & reidenshi

"I have 2,000 followers and that was enough to get the word out," said Thurman.

They raised $10,000 in just 12 hours with most of the donations coming from students.

Seven days later, the online fundraiser has nearly reached its $200,000 goal.

"It's crazy to see something that, we knew people would have wanted to help," said senior Marti Yousko, "But we didn't know it would blow up."

If you would like to donate, click here.