Residents rally to help New Kensington grocery worker whose car was smashed by tree
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Friends and strangers alike have rallied to raise more than $3,400 in a GoFundMe account benefiting a New Kensington man whose 32-year-old car was crushed by a huge oak tree during Wednesday’s high winds and tornado.
“Thanks to everyone for all of their support,” said Tom Athey Jr., 63, of New Kensington’s Parnassus neighborhood. Athey was surprised that a substantial amount of money had been raised in just two days.
“My friends are great,” he said.
Athey’s 1988 Lincoln Town Car is his only way to get to his job as a clerk at the Shop ’n Save in West Deer 7 miles away.
Athey slept through the storm. His car was parked just inches from the huge oak tree that went down during a rare tornado early Wednesday morning. A friend alerted him.
Then Athey called his friend Paul Romito of Upper Burrell to tell him of the loss, since Romito was the previous owner of the Town Car. They had resurrected “the tank,” which had only 71,000 miles on it, less than two years ago after it sat for five years in Romito’s yard.
The two have stayed friends since meeting at the former Ridge Avenue Junior High School in New Kensington in 1968.
“Tom has always been there for me,” Romito said. “He helped me when I was down low.”
After the call, Romito hurried down to see Athey at his New Kensington home Wednesday morning to take photos of the smashed car and then started a GoFundMe campaign.
“I knew I had to act fast,” he said.
The GoFundMe pitch apparently resonated: “Tom is a grocery store worker who has one of the strongest work ethics of anyone I know. Tom lives 7 miles from the Shop ’n Save he works at in Russellton, PA. In the past when Tom has not had enough money for a car, he has walked the 7 miles (one way) to work in the most inclement of weather (as in: Dead of Winter). And I’m not talking about for a few days … for months.”
Romito was surprised by the campaign’s speed: “I never thought it would take off like this,” he said. “Strangers are helping out.”
Athey’s employer was impressed as well.
“It’s a testament to our community that it is a time to help other people,” said Liz Beter, owner of the Shop ’n Save in West Deer.