1,500 Community Members Band Together to Drive Blind Man to Work Every Day
Imagine for a moment that you are legally blind and canāt get a license. You live in Cabot, Arkansas. The local Walmart offers you a job as a janitor on the night shift, but thereās no public transit to take you five miles in to work, and five miles back home. What do you do?
I would like to think Iād find a way to work. But I donāt know that. Most folks would be tempted to give up, sit at home, and collect unemployment. Bill MoczulewskiĀ is not most folks.
Moczulewski decided to walk to work every day, no matter the weather. Even though that means a 10 mile hike, which usually takes him two hours total. What about winter weather? āI donāt call out,ā Moczulewski said. āI want to work.ā
One day Christy Conrad spotted her neighbor walking and offered him a ride. She listened to his story and enjoyed the drive. She resolved to pick him up whenever she could, especially in bad weather. She said, āHeās going to go to work no matter whatā¦I picked him up in nine degrees the other morning.ā
Because Conrad couldnāt give Moczulewski a ride every night and morning, she started a Facebook group seeking other volunteers. She named it Mr. Billās Village. And fueled by the generosity of the people of Cabot, it exploded. The group now has 1,500 members.
A group member said, āNow itās like everyone is competing to give Mr. Bill a ride.ā Members even make it a game, going for a drive to find Moczulewski. Conrad said itās ājust like, āWhereās Waldo,ā but whereās Mr. Billā¦Itās nice to see.ā
Today, Moczulewski almost never has to walk all the way to work. He said, āItās never the same person from one day to the nextā¦Thereās a lot of good people in this world, all over the place, you know.ā
I 100% agree. I grew up in a small town and have seen how people help one another out. We donāt need apps such as Uber to connect folks with cars to folks who need a lift. In fact, this Facebook group is a fantastic way to verify the identity of the driver and the passenger and stay safe.
That said, Mr. Billās Village highlights how badly we need better public transit in the U.S. Not everyone has the privilege of being able to drive, and folks like Moczulewski deserve the freedom to work and move around town. Weāve built a world beyond the scale of the human body, which is great as long as no one gets left behind.
Next, read about the 64 semi-truck convoy that paraded to an 8-year-oldās birthday, or see what the folks in Cabot think about Mr. Billās Village in the video below: