Yes We Can Get This Man A Car

"SteveLehto" (stevelehto) 02/02/2015 at 14:10 • Filed to: None

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Yesterday morning !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the man who walks 21 miles a day as part of his to and from work commute. His home is in Detroit and the Detroit Free Press ran the original article. I asked the question about raising some money for him and a gofundme account was set up shortly after.

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It looks like that account is going to break $60,000 soon, largely because the media around the world has heard the story of James and of the outpouring of generosity from strangers who wanted to help. I saw the story on CBS national news and have heard that it was on CNN and a number of other outlets. It is also in the print media.

Please note that James did not seek any help but he is grateful that it was offered to him. I will post more follow ups as the story develops. I have been corresponding with the man who is running the gofundme campaign. Here is the follow up piece from today's Freep.

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And for the sake of disclosure, I will tell you I delivered the Free Press when I was a kid. What a nightmare. Getting up at 5 a.m. and delivering those papers every day before school. I must have walked a mile or two. Hurts just thinking about it. I was so glad when I got older and finally got a job where I didn't have to walk so much.

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Steve Lehto has been practicing law for 23 years, almost exclusively in consumer protection and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! He wrote !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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bob and john > SteveLehto 02/02/2015 at 14:12

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wow. that went nuts. 60k? you can get him a fully loaded accord, insurance and gas for a while...

I'm kinda curious though...would he be charged taxes for this?

E. Julius > SteveLehto 02/02/2015 at 14:14

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Glad to know this worked out, despite all of the people being Class A jerks in the comments of your original post. I swear some people only come online to pick things apart, even if it's one person trying to help another.

SteveLehto > bob and john 02/02/2015 at 14:14

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There have been all kinds of offers of non-monetary help, including from some financial folks. They can work that out, I am sure.

SteveLehto > E. Julius 02/02/2015 at 14:15

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I got a few more saying we should refund the money and get him a bike. Seriously.

I understand if someone doesn't want to contribute but to actively go against something like this is remarkable.

Party-vi > bob and john 02/02/2015 at 14:16

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Sales tax on the car and any fees at registration, or are you referring to the donation? I believe this would count as taxable income, so he would have to set some aside for the tax man. If the car is a gift then he would still have to pay gift tax (see: Oprah giving away a couple hundred cars to unlucky audience members).

bob and john > SteveLehto 02/02/2015 at 14:16

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yea...reason I';m asking is because i''ve heard that some winners of shows like the prices is right have to sell that crazy R8 or w/e they get because it counts as income and they have to pay the tax on it.

It would be a shame if that happened here.

Tapas > bob and john 02/02/2015 at 14:16

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Not to mention, a service plan with double meat rust protection and unlimited blinker fluid refills.

Tapas > bob and john 02/02/2015 at 14:17

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Yeah, donations / gifts are to be reported as income. As far as I know...

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > SteveLehto 02/02/2015 at 14:18

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I hope he ends up in a reasonable and reliable car and is able to use the left over money for gas/insurance. Insurance rates if you park inside the city limits of Detroit are astronomical. I sincerely hope this is a turning point in this guys life and it only gets better from here.

SteveLehto > bob and john 02/02/2015 at 14:20

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Yeah, this will be easier to plan since he has cash to start with. The worst thing to do would be to blow it all on a car. Then, you have everything else . . . .

Ravey Mayvey Slurpee Surprise > SteveLehto 02/02/2015 at 14:21

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Yeah, I don't get it either.

I'm happy about this development. The fact that he's getting a car is awesome, but I think the more important development is that we're giving him more free time by simplifying his commute. That alone is brilliant.

jsemerica > SteveLehto 02/02/2015 at 14:23

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At first this article inspired me to believe in my fellow man, then I read the comments and realized that my fellow man is kind of a douche, now it's back to inspiration. Thanks Steve!

 > SteveLehto 02/02/2015 at 14:24

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Any job offers that pay more than $10.55 an hour?

SteveLehto > jsemerica 02/02/2015 at 14:26

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I agree with you. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Besides the massive donations, my piece was read more than 36,000 times. It had several hundred comments and a few of them were negative. But for the most part, I suspect the silent majority of people there felt for this guy and understood what we were trying to do.

Thanks for the note.

SteveLehto >  02/02/2015 at 14:27

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Not that I heard of. There were several offers of cars (we'll see if those pan out) and a LOT of people offered to give him rides.

Seriously, good-paying jobs in Detroit are quite hard to come by.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > SteveLehto 02/02/2015 at 14:34

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Probably hipsters that don't like cars at all. Its not exactly biking weather there.

E. Julius > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 02/02/2015 at 14:49

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And/or people that don't understand that having to do this every day means it's really hard to do anything else (like look for a different job, learn new skills, etc.)

Racescort666 > E. Julius 02/02/2015 at 15:11

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Not to thread-jack but it definitely feels like many people come online only to pick things apart. For example, in the Audi Syndrome article, I posted that I did my valve cover gasket this weekend and someone implied that I shouldn't be proud of doing a valve cover gasket because it's not as hard as a cylinder head gasket.

E. Julius > Racescort666 02/02/2015 at 15:25

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Maxxuman > SteveLehto 02/02/2015 at 18:33

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Congratulations Steve, on getting the result you were after, and more (I see it's now over $80,000!) Mr Robertson's determination was inspiring, but so too is what you've been able to achieve on his behalf. Bravo!

I was pleased to see your original post was gaining some traction, but surprised to see it turn up on the front page and in the finance section (?) of Murdoch's Australian news website: Detroit man James Robertson walks 33km to work every day

SteveLehto > Maxxuman 02/02/2015 at 18:38

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The piece originated in the Detroit Free Press and then got picked up all over. I found several overseas, including many that had converted the dollar$ into local currency units.

I felt this story was powerful when I first read it and hoped it would move others the way it did me.

Thanks for the note.

Desu-San-Desu > SteveLehto 02/02/2015 at 19:22

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$90,635 as of 7:22pm EST, 2-2-2015.

SteveLehto > Desu-San-Desu 02/02/2015 at 19:30

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Amazing.

Thanks.

Richard M. Gaskill > SteveLehto 02/02/2015 at 21:13

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He's doing all right. http://www.gofundme.com/l7girc

SteveLehto > Richard M. Gaskill 02/02/2015 at 21:32

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Yes, it is amazing.

Gated Manual > SteveLehto 02/03/2015 at 06:07

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Its now on CNN. his fund is $131k. wow.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/03/us/…

SteveLehto > Gated Manual 02/03/2015 at 06:32

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Amazing. I'm seeing the story everywhere.

chiefstinky > SteveLehto 02/03/2015 at 09:01

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Steve, thanks for bringing to our attention. I donated a little, glad to see we can help this guy.

SteveLehto > chiefstinky 02/03/2015 at 09:12

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Yes, thanks. The response has been overwhelming and mostly positive. Even the "little" donations add up.

I will post more updates as appropriate.

matt1994xj > SteveLehto 02/03/2015 at 10:36

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Its great to help the guy out but its over $170k now. At what point does this become excessive? In my opinion that has already passed. I could pay off my house, student loans, car loan, and still have money left to buy a new car at the end of all of that.

SteveLehto > matt1994xj 02/03/2015 at 10:41

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It's hard to tell people to stop being generous.

I am not in charge of the gofundme account.

I like to look on the bright side in that it does show there are still generous people out there.

dmat > SteveLehto 02/03/2015 at 15:58

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Just an update but after the story broke on yahoo's front page. over $225k has been donated now. I think things went from a new car to life changing.

jimz > Party-vi 02/03/2015 at 16:32

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someone from UBS (who had given him lifts to the bus stop in the past) is supposedly going to help him manage it.

jimz > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 02/03/2015 at 16:33

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that's why hipsters have latched onto fat bikes. so they have something else to lord over people.

jimz > E. Julius 02/03/2015 at 16:33

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I tried pointing that out, but my time would have been better spent screaming at a brick wall trying to get it to move.

jimz > SteveLehto 02/03/2015 at 16:36

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for some reason I thought GoFundMe would close the drive once the goal had been reached, like (I think) Kickstarter does. but he's being smart about lining up someone (credible) to manage it; like Steve Harvey says everybody has family/acquaintances that think just because you're doing good, they're supposed to be doing good too. and sometimes it can be difficult to say "no."

deekster_caddy > SteveLehto 02/03/2015 at 16:37

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Great. Now the guy is going to get fat and need a gym membership instead of getting in a good walk every day!

(I kid! well, a little bit serious, he was getting a great workout every day)

SteveLehto > deekster_caddy 02/03/2015 at 16:39

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It would get old after a decade or two.

Thanks for the note.

trunkmonkey > SteveLehto 02/03/2015 at 17:57

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I'm sitting here watching Action News 11 ABC here in Tampa and they're about to do a segment on this guy in just a few minutes.

SteveLehto > trunkmonkey 02/03/2015 at 18:03

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It's saturated the news. I have heard from New Zealand and Finland - where stories about him have run. It is amazing.

trunkmonkey > SteveLehto 02/03/2015 at 18:23

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That's great!

Party-vi > jimz 02/03/2015 at 19:10

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nice.

chiefstinky > SteveLehto 02/03/2015 at 19:24

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Steve, Is Evan Leedy an Oppo guy?

SteveLehto > chiefstinky 02/03/2015 at 19:32

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I do not know him personally so I do not know. I have corresponded with him though and hope to have a full update to give in a day or two.