Detroit's viral kindness is contagious: $10k raised in a day to get car for biking man

Many of us had to deal with a lot of snow on Saturday, especially up by Oakland County. Sure, we may have had to shovel it, or brush it off your car – but imagine you had to bike to work in it.

And imagine that your seven mile bike ride has been going on for five years to your job at Meijer. On top of that, the road you have to take is the insanely busy M-59.

That’s the case with a man known only as “Tony,” according to a Facebook post and GoFundMe page by Jason Kapoor. Tony works at Meijer and for the last five winters has biked to work a seven mile ride in all kinds of weather. The rest, we’ll let Jason tell the story:

Last night around 10:30 I was driving west on M59 towards Airport when I saw person on a bicycle riding with the flow of traffic. Now as you all know the roads were horrible yesterday, and there were a ton of accidents. I remember seeing a story about a man who was recently hit and killed riding his bike on Telegraph. So as I pass this man, not only do the current weather conditions come to mind, but also his safety. I quickly turn around. I throw my hazards on and ask the man if he needs a ride. Without hesitation he said “I would love a ride” frozen beard and all. We somehow fit his bike into this Wrangler courtesy of Szott Chrysler Jeep, and he gets in. I ask where he’s heading, and he said Meijer in White Lake. Now mind you this is a 7 mile ride. He proceeds to tell me this is his 5th winter riding his bike to work. He does so because he can not afford a car due to the majority of his income going towards his ill wife. This gentlemans name is Tony. He is just a hard working man, trying to make a living to take care of his wife. Upon my Facebook post, a lot of people wanted to create a go fund me page for Tony to get a vehicle to keep safe and warm this winter! So here it is. All proceeds will go to purchasing the vehicle for Tony as well as insurance costs. Thank you!

The post on Facebook has garnered of this writing more than 12,000 likes and 12,000 shares, and the GoFundMe page has raised more than $9,500 of the $15,000 goal.