A high school janitor got the surprise of a lifetime after a group of students gifted him his dream car, a Jeep Wrangler that cost $20,000.
Francis Apraku, a janitor at James Madison High School in Vienna, Virginia, was left speechless after students banded together to give him a birthday gift on Monday, September 9.
The group of students fundraised for months on GoFundMe and ended up exceeding expectations after raising more than $20,000 for Apraku. They also got support from a local car dealer who helped them pick out his dream vehicle.
Apraku, who dropped to the ground in complete shock, expressed how grateful he was to God and the students for the gift.
With tears in his eyes, the janitor told Fox5: ‘I will give thanks to Almighty God for making today for me. I hope today is a great day for me.’
He turned around to face the boys and said: ‘And also, I thank my junior brothers around me – through them, this dream has come true.’
‘May God richly bless them and make all their dreams come true in their life.
In the Video, Apraku walked out to the school parking lot and spotted the Jeep.
He soon started to realize that it was his and instantly fell to the floor and rolled over with a huge smile on his face as the boys walked over to embrace him.
He then held his keys in his hands, raised his arms up to the sky and closed his eyes in prayer.
Apraku recalled telling them his favourite car was a Jeep Wrangler ‘with a tyre in the back of the car.’
‘When I said that, the guys were looking at me, and I didn’t know the reason they were looking at me like that.’
Apraku also recalled feeling confused when three of the students asked him for his email address prior to the big day.
‘I don’t know much about the phone, I don’t know much about the email,’ he said.
Watch the video below.
Kids at James Madison High School in Vienna, Virginia raised money on GoFundMe for their school custodian, Francis Apraku, and got him a new Jeep 🥹🙏 https://t.co/fmtAgIRFRx pic.twitter.com/wxvWWs37cW
— Wu Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) September 14, 2024
One of the students, Bennett, told the outlet that the group ‘never thought it would come this far’ and revealed that they collected $5,000 the first day.
Another student, Logan, said they received $19,000 in about three months and after six months they collected more than $20,000 for the custodian.
‘Ever since we met Francis he has been super kind and friendly and sometimes even says prayers for us,’ the boys said on the donation page.
Apraku said he will never forget the day the students made his dreams come true.
‘I feel happy, happy, happy, and I don’t know how to describe it,’ he said.
