Every day Dalton John makes his way to work as a school custodian with a smile.
Sometimes he takes the bus, most days he walks, up to 45 minutes to get to Arapaho Classical Magnet School.
A vision issue keeps him from driving.
He not only keeps the school clean, he also juggles for students on Fridays during lunch.
The students nicknamed him Mr. Pinky after a visit to the eye doctor.
“They gave me a shot in my left eye and another shot in my right eye. I came back to work, and kids said, ‘Mr. John, you have a pink eye!’ I told them, ‘I can’t see well.’ They started calling me Mr. Pink Eye. I said ‘Ok!’ Then they started calling me Mr. Pinky.”
Assistant Principal Dolores Onstott says a parent started a Go Fund Me page to help him get to work.
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“One of the things they’re hoping for is to be able to create an account for him with a Lyft service, or some other service like that,” says Onstott.
She says during the month of November, the students are paying it forward, collecting coins for him and other custodians that’ll be used to buy them holiday gift cards.
“I will never leave this job until I retire. Some students ask me, ‘Are you going to retire?’ I say, ‘No! I’m coming back!’ They say, ‘Oh, we love you Mr. Pinky.”
He’s originally from Sierra Leone and hasn’t see his two sons since 2010.
He’s waiting to get his citizenship so he can see them soon.
