Heart and Sole: Man Walks 21 Miles in Work Commute (+video)
Photo Credit: Detroit Free Press By Bill Laitner. Leaving home in Detroit at 8 a.m., James Robertson doesn’t look like an endurance athlete.
Pudgy of form, shod in heavy work boots, Robertson trudges almost haltingly as he starts another workday.
But as he steps out into the cold, Robertson, 56, is steeled for an Olympic-sized commute. Getting to and from his factory job 23 miles away in Rochester Hills, he’ll take a bus partway there and partway home. And he’ll also walk an astounding 21 miles.
Five days a week. Monday through Friday.
It’s the life Robertson has led for the last decade, ever since his 1988 Honda Accord quit on him.
Every trip is an ordeal of mental and physical toughness for this soft-spoken man with a perfect attendance record at work. And every day is a tribute to how much he cares about his job, his boss and his coworkers. Robertson’s daunting walks and bus rides, in all kinds of weather, also reflect the challenges some metro Detroiters face in getting to work in a region of limited bus service, and where car ownership is priced beyond the reach of many. (Read more about how the man walks 21 miles for work HERE)
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Strangers Raise $40,000 for Man Who Walks 21 Miles Per Day for Work
By Jared Keever. It wasn’t even planned, but it took less than a day.
Less than 24 hours after the Detroit Free Press ran a story about 56-year-old James Robertson and his grueling 21-mile roundtrip walking commute, people, moved by his story, have banded to together to raise money to help Robertson with his long, and sometimes frigid, commute.
The original story ran Sunday morning. By that evening 19-year-old Evan Leedy, a student at nearby Wayne State University, had set up a GoFundMe site with a modest $5,000 goal to help Robertson buy a car.
“I just used my phone. I created the go-funding site and within an hour we had $2,000,” Leedy told the Detroit Free Press in a follow-up story.
By the time the story went to press, the site had raised $30,000. It has now raised more than $40,000. (Read more from this story HERE)
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