Texas students raise over $168K to help school janitor who was forced out of retirement to afford increased rent
CALLISBURG, TEXAS: An 80-year-old man who was forced out of retirement to afford rent was helped by students in Cooke County, Texas, and now his story is making headlines across the nation. The man referred to as "Mr James" had his rent increased by around $400 a month and was unable to make ends meet without returning to work.
Unable to afford rent, the elderly man began working at Callisburg High School in January 2023 after retiring from a career in a different field. "He's a hard worker. He's an older man, so he doesn't get around like the students do, but he's a worker," said Jason Hooper, the school principal, as per Fox News.
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'I think God called us all to do it'
After hearing his story, three students from the school decided to help him. "It got brought up the other day in class and me and my friend Banner were like, you know what we should start a GoFundMe, you know like those things people do on TikTok and it goes viral," said senior Marti Yousko. They requested their friend Greyson Thurman, who has a sizable TikTok following, to post about the initiative. "I think God called us all to do it," said Thurman, adding, "Once I heard, ‘Greyson you should post it’, something was heavy on my heart telling me, Greyson you gotta do it and if you don't, this guy's going to keep working here."
Thurman set up a GoFundMe with the title Getting Mr James out of this school" and wrote, "Hey guys I’m having a fundraiser for our janitor who is struggling to pay his rent. He had to leave retirement to continue to pay his rent that was raised. Just a little will change his life!!"
The GoFundMe has raised more than $168K
The initiative quickly went viral and was met with a lot of positive response. "We knew being in a small town like Callisburg that people would want to help and people would want to support us, especially with something like this, but I don't think we ever imagined that there'd be like news channels here," said Yousko.
The fundraiser has raised more than $168K in just a week of posting. "When we told [James], he was kind of like, 'dang, that's alright!'," said Yousko. "I don't think anyone should have to come out of retirement just to make ends meet," he said. "Nobody deserves to work their whole life. They deserve to enjoy everything," said Thurman.
James declined the request for an interview but was okay with his story being shared.
