David Spade donates $5k to Burger King employee who received just a goodie bag for 27-year service
David Spade made a Burger King staffer’s day after donating $5k to him. Kevin Ford has been working for the fast-food company’s Las Vegas airport outlet for almost three decades and has reportedly never taken a day off. His time with the organization has been entirely without issues. To reward him for his years of service, HMS Host, the company that provides workforce to Burger King, sent him a goodie bag, but apparently a mediocre one.
The gift bag included a movie ticket, some keychains, a bag of Reese’s, a Starbucks cup, a lanyard, two writing pens, and two packs of Lifesavers. Ford made a video showcasing the goodies and taking a subtle sarcastic dig at the firm.
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As the video went viral online, Burger King released a statement, saying, “The Burger King brand and its many franchisees nationwide are committed to recognizing and celebrating the achievements of the thousands of people serving across a wide range of roles — all dedicated to providing our Guests a world-class experience.”
“Following review with this location’s franchisee, we’ve learned that this video depicts a Team Member in receipt of a peer-to-peer reward in recognition of a short-term positive performance/experience. The franchisee offers its Team Members a robust employee recognition program, which includes the recognition of tenure milestones and monetary awards,” the statement added.
To help boost Ford’s morale, his daughter started a fundraising page. The message on the page, which has so far received $39,903, read: “Hi, My name is Seryna. 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 gain custody of me and my older sister 27 years ago."
The message continues, "Then as our family grew and he remarried, he continue to work here because of the amazing health insurance that was provided through this employer because it was unionized. Which got all four of his daughters through high school and college with full healthcare coverage. My dad continues to work here, because though he does look young, he is coming up on retirement age and leaving would cost him his retirement. 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.”
Seryna then realized that someone named David Spade had contributed $5,000 and told her father about it. Ford was not sure that it was the stand-up comedian himself until he saw a message in his Instagram that read, “Keep up the good work. 27 years.” The employee spoke with TMZ and said that he's "a huge fan of David's, so to get a donation plus some fun back and forth with Spade is surreal."
Ford added that the money is going to help him visit his daughters and grandkids in Texas. He also plans to use the dough to buy a new Ford hybrid.