For more than 10 years, Kathryn Thompson had been working tirelessly at Elon University’s cafeteria.
Even though her shifts were long, ending at 2 a.m., Kathryn was always charming and kind to every student she saw.
In fact, according to Glenn Austin who is Kathryn’s boss, she was one of the best employees ever.
“She’s dependable. She hardly ever calls off and is a stable employee for the night shift,” said Glenn.
One day, two students named Lucy Smith-Williams and Taylor Zisholtz had a chance to have a brief conversation with Kathryn.
That’s when they found out that Kathryn’s lifelong dream was to go to Disney World with her family.
She told them, “I just want that so badly. I have never been anywhere but here.”
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When Lucy and Taylor sat down to eat, they started to come up with a way to make Kathryn’s dream come true. She had always been incredibly warm to them, and the students wanted to show how grateful they were.
According to an interview with the Huffington Post, Taylor said,
“I thought, ‘well there’s 6,000 people here with at least a dollar. We could probably make this happen.'”
And it was!
After learning that Kathryn’s family consisted of five, Lucy and Taylor researched how much it would cost them to make this trip to Disney World.
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According to their research, they needed about $6,500. If half of the entire student body donated just 2 dollars, this trip could be funded.
So, the students started a GoFundMe campaign, asking Elon’s students to contribute.
Amazingly, their goal of $6,500 was surpassed within just a month. Now, it was time for the students to surprise Kathryn!
In the video, Kathryn is led into a room full of students. And Lucy and Taylor are seen holding Disney gift bags.
As soon as Kathryn learned that she’d be going to Disney World, she breaks down in tears.
She just can’t seem to believe this is really happening.
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