Photo: Getty Images
Last month, an 80-year-old man was forced out of retirement in order to pay his bills. Mr. James, as he is known, got a job as a janitor at Callisburg High School in Texas.
When students learned that Mr. James was struggling to pay his bills and had to cut his retirement short, they knew they had to act.
"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.
Tidwell and several other students set up a GoFundMe page so they could raise money for Mr. James to retire for good. To spread the word about their fundraiser, Greyson Thurman posted a video on TikTok showing Mr. James cleaning the school.
"He should be living his life, doing what he wants. His rent got raised," Thurman told WFAA. "That forced him to come back to keep working. He should just be living right now, doing what he wants."
The video was popular among students, who donated about $10,000 in the first 12 hours, meeting their initial goal.
"I have 2,000 followers, and that was enough to get the word out," said Thurman.
As the story gained traction with the media, donations spiked, with over 8,500 people donating more than $260,000 as of Friday (February 24) afternoon.
"It's just amazing," Callisburg Principal Jason Hooper told KXII." You know of the need that was met because of three kind kids, but of all of our students who have pitched in to help that need."
The Callisburg Independent School District told KDFI that Mr. James is still employed by the school and has not said if he plans to retire.