Watch: This dedicated employee walked 32 km to get to work on time. His CEO gave him a car as a gift

It was around midnight when Walter Carr realised that his car had broken down. He had to make it to his first day at work the next morning at 7 am, and a broken car wasn’t going to be of any help. So Carr did the only thing he could do – he started walking through the suburbs of Birmingham in Alabama at midnight to get to his new job in time.

Carr was planning on walking the entire way from Homewood to Pelham, where he had to report for work for Bellhops, a moving company, at a location 20 miles (38 kilometres) away. The young man would have done the entire journey on foot had a police officer not found him on the way.

The police officer spoke with Carr and, after finding out he’d been walking for over four hours already, took him to get some breakfast and drove him to the home of the family which Bellhops was helping to move. Carr reported for work half an hour early and got right to work, turning down any offers for rest.

The Pelham police officer filled in the clients, Jenny Hayden Lamey and her husband Chris, on Carr’s story. Lamey was so impressed with the young man that she put up a post on Facebook (below), explaining that the “nice kid” was from New Orleans and had moved to Birmingham after their home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Lamey wasn’t the only one impressed with the young man. When Bellhops CEO Luke Marklin heard about Carr’s dedication, he drove from a different state over the weekend to meet his new employee. After chatting with Carr, Marklin then decided to reward Carr for his “heart and grit” in the most surprising manner – by handing over the keys of his own SUV to Carr.

“I’d like to give you this car right here,” said Marklin to an astounded Carr in the video above. “It’s served my family really well. I think it will serve yours.”

It wasn’t just Marklin and Lamey but the entire world that was impressed with Carr. An online crowdfunding campaign set up to help him has raised over $75,000 already. According to BBC, Carr plans to graduate from college in December with a degree in health science, after which he hopes to join the US Marines, and then study physical therapy.