18-year-old Emanuel Graham has just entered college.
He’s now studying at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, but he wouldn’t even imagine being where he is today if it wasn’t for his former boss.
The boy had lost both his parents before he turned 13, and this really made him struggle financially and emotionally.
As he told CBS News, when his parents passed away, he found himself struggling at school.
And he really can’t be sure about where he would be today if he hadn’t met the assistant manager at McDonalds in Lynn, Massachusetts, when he got a job there.
The woman truly has a heart of gold.
As she explains, being a mother does not only make you care about your own children, but all the children around you.
“You never stop being a mother just because they’re not your kids,” Andrea De La Rosa told CBS Evening News.
When the young man started working at the fast food restaurant, De La Rosa approached him just like she does with all the teenagers who go to work there.
She got to know everything about him and she was determined to help him turn his life around.
“She treats me as if I’m her child. She always checks on me. She makes sure that I have everything that I need,” Graham said.
Little by little, Graham became part of Mama McDonalds’, as they call her, big family.
You see, all the young boys and girls who work there feel like they are part of Andrea’s family.
As a young girl explained, De La Rosa has been a mother figure for her since she doesn’t have a relationship with her mother.
As she points out, the woman will always pick up her phone, no matter what time of the day, and will patiently listen to whatever they have to say and give advice.
It’s truly amazing how this woman has managed to lead these boys and girls in kindness and respect.
“Managing young people on their first jobs is about so much more than barking orders. It’s about listening, helping with homework, college applications and really anything for the kids who work in the fast food restaurant,” De La Rosa exlained.
Indeed, Graham is one of those kids who were offered not only psychological help by Mama McDonald’s, but he also managed to go to college thanks to her.
As Boston Business Journal reported, the teenager will be attending college thanks to a program called Archways to Opportunity, which basically provides Mcdonalds’ employees tuition assistance and access to free education.
A couple of months ago, local McDonald’s owner operator Lindsay Wallin surprised Graham with a $500 Amazon gift card and a UMass hoodie, while she didn’t forget about Andrea.
Wallin surprised the assistant manager with a check so she could pay for the upcoming flights for a family vacation trip she was planning at the time.
It is really uplifting to see there’s still good in people.
Watch the protagonists of this story talk about it in the video below!
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