Man Who Walked 16 Miles to Work Two Jobs Rewarded With New Car

Thanks to an appreciative customer and a viral Facebook post, a New Hampshire man’s hard work paid off with a new car earlier this month.

Kyle Bigler mans twenty hour shifts on Sundays and Mondays, splitting time working at a Dunkin Donuts and a deli to pay his bills and take care of his son. The two stores are separated by eight miles, meaning he walks a grand total of 16 miles each day.

Joanna Griffiths, a regular customer at the doughnut shop, was waited on by Bigler when she grabbed her one morning coffee. Later that night, she stopped by the deli and saw Bigler working a night shift.

“I stopped at the Big Apple (convenience store) on my way home… to see if he could use a lift home while I grabbed gas, but he politely declined stating he worked another 3+ hours closing,” she wrote on Facebook.

She told WSB-TV, “I  was like, ‘What are you doing here? You were working at 7:30 this morning. Was that you walking?’ And he was like, ‘Yup.'”

Over the next few days, Griffiths struck up a friendship with Bigler, eventually hatching a plan to share his story on social media. She shared, “I came through the drive-thru (at Dunkin Donuts) and I took a picture of him and I said, ‘I’m going to make you famous,’ and he goes, ‘Yeah, right, cause of my crazy hair or something?”

Griffiths shared the photo, along with a Facebook post that read in part:

“I felt the need to share this with all of you, and perhaps make this man go viral. Last week I got an iced coffee at Dunkin donuts around 7:30am, later on that day I saw the same man walking but was unable to pick him up or I would have been late for work myself. Little did I know, he was walking 8 1/2 miles to his second full time job at the Big Apple for his Graveyard shift. I stopped at the Big Apple on my way home from work around 10:45pm (sic) to see if he could use a lift home while I grabbed gas, but he politely declined stating he worked another 3+ hours closing. The moral of the story is this, if you are an able bodied person, there is a job out there for you. No matter what the job may be. This man walks 16 miles every day between both his jobs, making minimum wage at both. Minimum wage in New Hampshire is $7.25/hr. This man shows that if you are motivated, ambitious, and WILLING to work, it IS possible.”

Griffiths’ Facebook quickly went viral, and was eventually seen by employees of the Autoserv car dealership in Tilton, New Hampshire. The dealership decided to give Bigler a 2005 Honda for all his hard work.

Sales manager Ryan Parks explained to WSB-TV, “I thought we probably have a couple cars here that we could just donate to him so he doesn’t have to walk 20 miles a day. He persevered through two minimum wage jobs.”

Of the gift and Bigler, Griffiths said, “You know, it doesn’t matter what job you’re at, as long as you try hard and do your best you can make it.”