WESTMINSTER, Colo. (KDVR) — A Colorado teacher got a heartwarming surprise from his students this week, a check to buy a new car.
Adam Ruhnke teaches math at The Academy of Charter Schools in Westminster. Police said over Labor Day weekend, someone stole his vehicle out of his driveway in Greeley.
“I feel really bad for the guy,” student Carlitos Rodriguez said back in September.
Rodriguez and two other students, Aden Petrick and Alayas Medina, started a GoFundMe to help raise money for Ruhnke, who is a single father to seven children, with his unexpected expenses.
Tuesday, they surprised him on the football field with a check worth $8,097.94.
“I was blown away. They told me that they were going to do something like this, I just didn’t realize that they actually would. They really went all out for it,” Ruhnke said.
He plans to use the money to purchase a reliable vehicle to get back and forth to school. After his primary vehicle was stolen, he fixed up an older car that was not in running condition.
“It works, but it’s on its last legs. No heater, no radio, brakes are going out, and there are oil pump issues now,” he said.
Rodriguez, Petrick and Medina said their classmates and community have all been supportive of their effort.
“Being able to set this up was really fun and just being able to give him something that he truly deserved felt really nice,” Medina said.
The timing also could not have been better, Ruhnke’s basement flooded the day before the students gave him the money. He calls the gesture “life-changing.”
“It really is, it’s just huge. It’ll change everything. I don’t know how I would have made it without it. It would have been a real struggle,” he said.