Woman Forced To Halt 12-Mile Trek To Job By Policeman

Anyone who has to work for a living will know that it can be a struggle to put two feet on the floor in the small morning hours to make that commute. But for this North Carolina resident, her day started at 3 AM for a six-mile-there and six-mile-back commute—on foot. 

Meet Jaylesya Corbett, a resident of a small town in North Carolina. Like anyone else without a trust fund, she needed a job to make ends meet. After sending out resumes and tracking each of her responses, she finally got a response from one of the companies: the fast food chain: Bojangles.

Jaylesya didn’t have the cash to buy herself a car. Since the US is not exactly known for its public transportation infrastructure, she would need to walk to work and back home every day. But Jaylesya was just happy to find some income to pay the bills. 

At 3 AM, most people would be getting in on some prime REM sleep. But for Jaylesya, it was the time she needed to be out of the house by—otherwise, she wouldn’t stand a chance at making her 5 AM start on her arduous six-mile trek. 

Once Jaylesya’s shift ended, she had another two-hour walk back home to look forward to—or rather endure—hot or cold, humid, rainy, or freezing. After hours of moving around the fast food restaurant’s floor, it must have been unbearable. 

It was just another day, and Jaylesya was making another early morning trek to work. It was raining hard while traffic rushed passed her on the roadside. However, one driver took notice of the poor woman walking through the pouring rain—he watched her from the comfort of the front seat.

The officer who called Jaylesya from his car was a Nash Country Sergeant by the name of Scott Bass. After reassuring her that she wasn’t in any trouble, Sergeant Bass made Jaylesya an offer: he wanted to drive her to work.

Although she was reluctant at first, it was nice getting out of the rain. She could get off her feet, only if for a little while. Plus, she would have some time to relax before her shift started. Before long, her tired feet were thanking her for it.

Having felt good about doing a good deed, Bass couldn’t help but wonder about Jaylesya, especially after she told him about her 3 AM wake-up alarm and four-hour commute. He felt sorry for her making her way through the rain and the cold. 

It wasn’t only Sergeant Bass’ wife that heard about Jayesya. He spoke to his buddies at the station about the commute she had to endure each day. He asked them to keep an eye out for her. They could offer her a ride to work if he wasn’t available. 

While giving Jayesya rides sure improved the quality of her life, it wasn’t a permanent fix. While he couldn’t exactly create better public transportation infrastructure by snapping his fingers, there was something he could get her to improve her daily quality of life.

To get a measure of how much a bike would cost, Sergeant Bass headed to Walmart. He spoke to one of the staff members, who directed him to the bike. When asked who the bike was for, Bass told them Jayesya’s story. This got sent up to management, who agreed to donate one to her.

After several months of hoofing it on the road in the early morning, Jaylesya was exhausted, and her feet were cracked and sore. Rather than giving up and losing electricity and the roof over her head, she persevered. While she isn’t alone in this experience, she was uniquely lucky.

You can see from her expression that Jayesya was overwhelmed by this generosity. She couldn’t believe how lucky she had been. But there was one setback in all this: she had never been taught how to ride a bicycle! 

Jaylesya and Sergeant Bass’ little Facebook posts got tremendous traction online. The story of her struggle, their unlikely friendship, and the show of incredible generosity took the internet by storm as thousands of users began sharing the story.

While the story kept gaining more traction on Facebook, one public figure’s aide thought exceptionally well of the story and brought it to their boss’, Steve Harvey, who invited Jaylesya and the Sergeant onto his show, Facebook Watch, for a sit-down interview. 

Steve Harvey featured Sgt. Bass and Jaylesya on his show. They even had a moment to receive a round of applause from an audience. He also expressed how much he enjoyed their story and saw it as a source of inspiration and a bright spot worth sharing. 

Of course, while all of this was happening, Jaylesya’s employers had been watching closely. In all the publicity, they had a newfound sense of appreciation for her hard work. While talking to Steve Harvey on the show, Jaylesya revealed some more good news.

It seems that Jaylesya’s problems stemmed from not having enough cash. The fact that she was living paycheck to paycheck meant that she couldn’t afford to save up for a car—although she could afford to buy niceties from time to time was all that kept her going. 

Instead of letting Jaylesya put the 5K into a car fund, Steve Harvey did one better. Instead of saving for the first used car she could afford, he simply got her one from Capital Ford in her hometown. What a fantastic gift! 

Jaylesya gave Sergeant Bass a tearful hug before getting into her brand-new Ford Fiesta SE. All this came from a neighborly act. Once the officer got to know Jaylesya, he just couldn’t help but admire her and help her out while she was going through hard times.