A Starbucks barista was planning to fix her old car after it was burglarized but now, she did not have to. Her co-workers, and an entire university campus, raised over $40k so she could buy a new car.
65-year-old Karen Collinsworth has been living near Marshall University in West Virginia since 1967. For decades, she has been in the food industry and has been working at Starbucks for a long time now.
She is very passionate about her job. “I’ve loved waiting tables, I just do. Your customer service develops and you just want to please people, Collinsworth said.” Making people happy has become her signature, according to her co-workers at Starbucks.
“I love coming into work knowing that she’s gonna be there. I talk to her about literally everything,” said Cassie Gray, a sophomore at Marshall who also works with Collinsworth.
She said that Collinsworth was like her mom and talking to her is a relief because she is far away and can’t talk to her mother.
Collinsworth was happy being a Starbucks barista, serving students and faculty every day. She got along with her co-workers and their customers and always helped them with their problems, just like a mother. This was why she called herself a “Starbucks mom.”
All in all, Collinsworth had a happy life but she had one constant problem: there was always something wrong with her car.
“She had been having a lot of problems with the car in the past with her battery and it was just not starting and her neighbors were having to give her jumpstart and things like that,” sophomore Jaiden Horn said.
Gray was also a witness to it. She said Collinsworth had always had car problems but she did not like talking about it because she did not want others to feel bad about her.
In the past six months, Collinsworth’s car matters got even worse. One day, she shared that somebody stole her analytic converter and days later, someone broke into her car again, stealing items from its interior.
Hearing all this, her co-worker decided Collinsworth could not drive that car anymore as it was barely running. To help their Starbucks mom, they came up with the idea of raising funds for her new car.
Gray and her fellow Starbucks employees set up a GoFundMe for Collinsworth with a message “We love you, Karen.” They wanted to help her buy a new car without worrying about the monthly bills.
They hit their original goal of $10,000 quickly. However, there were more people who wanted to help the Starbucks barista. To this date, they have raised over $40,000, which was more than enough to get Collinsworth a new car.
“I was taken aback when I found out. It was very overwhelming. I knew these kids loved me because I love them,” Collinsworth says.
“But for them to be 19-year-old college students. They have so much going on in their life, but then to take care of their Starbucks mom, Karen. That’s just how big their hearts are.”
Many people contributed to the cause, including Marshall University president Brad Smith, who donated $5,000. “All the $5 donations meant more to me than $1,000 or $3,000,” Collinsworth says.
“It was just precious coming from these college kids that can’t afford a cup of coffee. Just goes to show you their kindness.”
Collinsworth shared that she was thinking of her old car at first; but after help poured, there was no reason to hold onto it anymore.
“I know those kids love me and that’s what makes my life worthwhile,” Collinsworth says. “They didn’t have to do something for me like this. It’s just enough knowing that I’m so cared about.”
Watch how her co-workers helped the Starbucks barista get a new car:
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