A Worker's Dream Comes True

Kathryn, with Lucy and Taylor.

They say, "When you wish upon a star..." Well, you know the rest of it. Kathryn Thompson has worked at the Acorn Coffee Shop, located at Elon University in North Carolina for about 10 years. But she's not just your ordinary worker. She brings a big dose of Southern charm to her work, a friendly face among students who might be away from their homes for the first time.

Kathryn brings her big heart to her job and invests it in the students who are her customers. One night while working the late shift, she got to talking to two students, Lucy Smith-Williams, a freshman, and Taylor Zisholtz, a junior. She happened to mention a dream of hers, one she's had for quite a while. She wanted to take a trip with her family to Disney World. But working in a coffee shop doesn't pay a lot, so her dream remained what it was, just a dream.



Ms. Thompson's relationship with Elon goes back decades, to when her own parents graduated from the University in the 1950s. She hasn't had many opportunities to leave this area, so she dreams and brings her passion into her work life. According to Glenn Austin, the assistant manager of the Elon Acorn, "She's been here for a long time. She's dependable. She hardly ever calls off and is a stable employee for the night shift."

There was just something about Kathryn that struck a note with the two students she had met. Maybe it was that sweet smile; maybe it was that dream for her and her family. Let's hear what Taylor has to say, "I really took to her warmth, and I've seen her here a lot and she's always in here. Just from talking to her, she was very invested in where we were from, what we were doing, and when she said, 'it's my dream,' I thought well there's 6,000 students here with at least a dollar. We could probably make this happen."

So, the two students started a GOFUNDME page, hoping that when they did raise $6.500, they'd be able to send Kathryn and her family to Disney World. However, neither of these young women expected to raise the entire amount in just three weeks. Of course, it helped that one donor contributed $1000.

GoFundMe has this thing going, in which their employee of the month gets to pick one of the pages to make a special $1000 donation, and he happened to pick the page that they had published for Kathryn. The next step was giving the gift to Kathryn.

Kathryn Thompson, worker with a passion.

Now, Kathryn had no idea about the fundraising and the plan to make her dream a reality. So, last Monday, students gathered at the start of her shift to present their very thoughtful gift, taking Kathryn and her family completely by surprise. Kathryn's words and tears of joy said it all, "It's a dream come true. Thank y'all and I love y'all."

Kathryn reacts to the presentation of the surprise gift.

Thanks to this article from Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/elon-college-students-cafe-employee-disney-world_5616b784e4b0082030a1979d?1444338358&ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000023; and this article from Elon Local News: http://elonlocalnews.com/2015/10/acorn-workers-disney-dream-becomes-a-reality/.

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