Dads' Generous Gesture for Struggling Friend

Christmas came early for one beloved crossing guard at a Texas elementary school. Nathaniel Kendrick, known to the community as “Mr. Ken,” has worked the crosswalk at Lakewood Elementary in Dallas for 12 years.  “He takes great pride in his work,” Lakewood dad Chris Prestridge tells Yahoo Parenting. “He’s very safety conscious.”

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But recently, the 77-year-old crossing guard has run into financial trouble as a result of caring for his wife, who has a “chronic and ongoing illness,” according to Prestridge. So when the local fathers group Friends of Lakewood, where Prestridge is the Vice-President, heard that Kendrick’s car had been repossessed, they were determined to help. “We have 450 or so dads in our group, so we started a GoFundMe account and quickly raised $7,000,” Prestridge says. “The Cadillac dealership was going to send this car to auction so they gave us a great deal on it. We paid the title and taxes and all that, of course.”

Last Friday, after school let out, Prestridge and Friends of Lakewood president Russell McMillan drove the new car to the school grounds. “I told Russ, ‘When you get to the school, park right in the middle of the crosswalk,’” Prestridge says. “Mr. Ken doesn’t care how well he knows you. If you park in his crosswalk, he’s on you. So when he told us to move it, Russ just said, ‘You move it, it’s your car.’”

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Prestridge, who has a fifth grader at Lakewood Elementary, says he expected the school to be a ghost town when they rolled up in the Cadillac – school lets out at 2:55, and they brought the car at 3:30—but a few moms knew about the presentation and had gathered a crowd of parents and teachers. “We don’t operate under the ‘Hey look at me’ kind of headline. We wanted to give it to him quietly,” Prestridge says. “But I’m glad now that it’s been shared. Mr. Ken deserves the attention.”

Upon receiving the gift, Kendrick was speechless. “It took him a good ten minutes to find words,” Prestridge says. “I’m just glad he liked it. The biggest thing was picking out the right car. We wanted to make sure he had a good, clean, reliable car he could count on.”

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Prestridge says they were able to get Kendrick the Cadillac for only $5,400, and they gave another $1,000 to the school’s other crossing guard. “She and Mr. Ken are identical in their commitment and compassion, so we thought we’d use that money to take care of her at Christmastime.”

In the video, Mr. Ken is in tears as he takes in his new ride. You might call it a Christmas miracle.

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