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A campus coffee shop employee broke down in tears after her lifelong wish to take her family to Disney World was granted.
Kathryn Thompson has worked for Elon University for over ten years and, thanks to hundreds of donations, has been rewarded for her hard work and dedication.
The heart-warming surprise was initiated by students Taylor Zisholtz and Lucy Smith-Williams who discovered Thompson’s dream one night when she was serving them.
“Kathryn's eyes filled with tears as she spilled out her biggest dream in life is to take her son, daughter-in-law, and two grandsons to Disney World,” writes Zisholtz on the GoFundMe online donation page that they set up.
The post continues: “Her parents were graduates of Elon back in the 50’s. It didn't take much longer for Lucy and me to grasp the kind of hard work and dedication that Kathryn has brought to Elon throughout her ten years of service at our university.
“It's five nights every week that you can count on her generous helping of down-to-earth sincerity and open friendliness served up with every plate she delivers.
“At 2:00am, when the shift is over, Kathryn returns home to her beloved little dog, satisfied that everyone from the Elon community was taken care of with a smile.”
The target was to raise $6,500, but in less than a month this was exceeded by a further $3,000 - helped by a $1,000 donation from a GoFundMe employee.
“I called GoFundMe and they said it’s kind of like their employee of the month gets to choose a cause to donate to,” Zisholtz told Elon Local News. “We were lucky enough that he chose us.”
Upon receiving the surprise Thompson broke down in tears of disbelief asking “are you serious?”
However, once the tears had dried it was business-as-usual for the dedicated worker who went back to serving coffee with a smile.
