CHAPIN, S.C. — One young man in Chapin was completely surprised this Christmas season. Thanks to generous staff members and customers from Zorba's Chapin, Colson Cannon, a busboy at the restaurant in Chapin, was gifted a car.
Cannon lost both of his parents. He lost his dad to sepsis about a year and a half ago and lost his mom over 8 years ago, leaving him in South Carolina without family. Before receiving this car, Cannon rode a broken-down three-wheeled scooter to get to work.
Cannon tells news 19 he was overwhelmed by the generosity of the community.
"When I started working here, I had high expectations of myself cause I wasn't the fastest bus boy and I was also very clumsy, but everyone has been kind to me. They all gave me words of encouragement and they've helped me out way more than necessary," Cannon said.
Kim Bradford and Chris Pendleton are regulars at Zorba's. They both had the original idea to gift him a car.
Both tell News 19 when they first met Cannon, they immediately noticed his work ethic, kind heart and happy demeanor. They learned about his history and that he doesn't have the best living conditions either, living in a small trailer. They wanted to help him out any way they could.
Pendleton tells News 19 he helped Cannon repair his scooter, but that the weather these past few days has been too cold for him to ride it.
"I said we're getting him a car for Christmas, so she (Kim Bradford) reached out to the Zorba's crowd here that she has on Facebook and we got about $1,500 in donations toward the car, so in three days we found this jeep on Facebook marketplace and the rest is history," Pendleton said.
The owners at Zorba's explain Cannon is one of the most hardworking employees at their restaurant. He even comes in to work on his days off.
"When I met Colson, he had a lot of strength to him. He was a strong individual who had a little of his left side paralyzed and he wanted a job, which I thought, was great. Trying to help him out, we gave him a shot and he is just the hardest worker that you ever met, the biggest heart that you ever met. He never says no and he'll do anything you ask him to do," Margie Winn, co-founder of Zorba's said.
Cannon tells News 19 that now he has to get license plates and tags for his car.
Bradford and Pendleton explain that any extra donations they get from the community via Facebook, they'll be putting toward paying Cannon's rent the next couple of months.