Fred Barley, 19, was willing to fight to get his college education and he biked more than 50 miles to make sure he did.
The homeless teen had only two duffle bags and water when he arrived in Barnesville, GA riding the entire way there to register for his second semester of classes. He slept in a tent on campus for housing. “At night when you hear the little creepy things rubbing you, that would terrify anybody,” Barley told News Radio 106.7’s Christie Hutchings.
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Police officers received a report that someone was sleeping in a tent and went to investigate, asking Barley to come out with his hands up. But once they saw Barley, they saw there was more to the story.
“We get to talking with him asking where he’s from and he tells us story of bike ride from Conyers. I’m like man this is crazy,” said Officer Richard Carreker.
“I could tell he was a good kid … who had been dealt a bad hand,” Officer Dicky Carreker told the Herald-Gazette. The officers decided to put him up in a hotel room.
When the word of Barley’s situation spread through town, Casey Blaney and her son Cole visited the hotel room to see if they could help. “We asked him what he wanted and what we could do for him and he just said ‘I really don’t want anything.’ After we kept asking, he said ‘A job,’” said Blaney.
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DB’s Pizzeria owner Debra Adamson heard the news and stepped in as well. “She hired me on the spot. She didn’t even know my first or last name,” Barley said.
Since then a Facebook group has been started to support him and a GoFundMe page has raised more than $60,000 for his education.
Barley will be enrolling in classes on Friday. He shared an emotional thank you with those who helped him in the video below.
