David Spade donates $5000 to a Burger King employee who received a goodie bag for 27 years of loyalty

Editor's note: This article was originally published on June 27, 2022. It has since been updated. 

Actor David Spade has donated thousands of dollars to a Burger King employee who received nothing but a goodie bag as acknowledgment for 27 years of service. In 2022, Kevin Ford shared a video revealing the goodie bag that his company sent thanking him for his loyalty. The goodie bag was sent from HMS Host, the company that hires staff for Burger King. The bag contained a bag of Reese's, a Starbucks reusable cup, two pens and one movie ticket, reported TMZ. Ford, who worked as a cashier and cook at Burger King at Las Vegas airport, said he felt like the company sent him stuff "they had lying around." It was even more disappointing that a fast-food chain would treat someone who spent 27 years of their life in service in this manner.

Ford was still grateful even if he was disappointed. "I'm happy about anything, I'm thankful for anything I get, I'm not that type of person, believe me. I've been through a lot. It's a great company, you know, I've been there [for] 27 years. But like most big corporations, they've kind of lost touch with their workers and through Covid and whatever, they started cutting out programs," he said. "We used to get cheques for 20 years, and that's what I actually thought that movie ticket was. I was like 'hey, they finally gave me my card', and then I saw it was not even two movie tickets — it was one. So I was like 'this is just too much', and [it seemed] it was just stuff they had laying around that they put together," he said.

People were aghast at the goodie bag sent to Ford and started a GoFundMe campaign to show that he was valued and not just a random cog in the corporate machine. Moved by Ford's story, David Spade generously donated to his campaign. The comedy star donated $5,000 to his GoFundMe campaign and also dropped him a message on Instagram. It was Ford's daughter who told him Spade had made a donation. When Ford checked his Instagram message, he saw a message from the actor congratulating him. Ford replied, “Holy s**t dude!!! Cannot Believe This!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH For even Watching the Video! I Love You, My Brother!!! Much Love and God Bless... I think might be able to take a Day Off...” Spade joked, “Wait till year 30.” Ford chuckled and replied, “Damn, Are You One Of My Managers??? Thank You Again, Sir, You're the Best. Have A Great Day...”

Burger King tried to play down the incident after the video gained people's attention. The fast-food chain said the gifts were in HMS Host packaging and was just a “peer-to-peer reward in recognition of a short-term positive performance/experience." The company claimed it recognized the milestones of employees. “The franchisee offers its Team Members a robust employee recognition program, which includes the recognition of tenure milestones and monetary awards,” said the spokesperson said. 

The GoFundMe campaign has raised $161,200 so far. "My father worked at his job for 27 years and yes, he has never missed a day of work. He originally began working at this job as a single father when he gained custody of me and my older sister 27 years ago," wrote Seryna Ford. "My dad continues to work here because though he does look young, he is coming up on retirement age and leaving would cost him his retirement," read the description. It's so great to see how people were supporting him.