Bristol Uni students raise £1,500 to send cleaner on holiday
Image copyright HadiA cleaner at Bristol university has been gifted £1,500 after students crowdfunded the money to send him to Jamaica.
The money was raised to fund a week's trip for Herman Gordon and his wife to visit family.
"He is the epitome of happiness," the JustGiving page where over 230 supporters donated money says.
A video of Herman being surprised with the money was later shared online and shows him breaking down in tears.
The gift was accompanied by a note addressed from "Bristol Students", which thanked Herman for his "positive energy" over the years.
"You have brightened many of our days and we want you to know that we love and appreciate you."
Skip Twitter post by @JAHeale
Here is the video of a Bristol University cleaner breaking down in tears after students fundraised £1500 for him and his wife to go on holiday this summer pic.twitter.com/em1Iaf5CDF
— James Heale (@JAHeale) June 26, 2018
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End of Twitter post by @JAHeale
Herman has worked at Bristol University as part of the cleaning staff for 12 years.
In terms of the positivity that so many students praise him for, Herman told Newsbeat it's important to keep away "negative vibes".
"I know that these students are studying. You don't want any negative vibes around them.
"They speak good things to me, I speak good things to them, and I bless them all."
According to an admin from the Bristruths Facebook page (an anonymous "truth" page for Bristol University), the idea for Herman's trip came from a Facebook post.
"It all started with this post on the 19th May," they told Newsbeat.
The initial post called Herman "the jolliest man I have ever met" and said "if you wanna reason to smile, go talk to him for a min or two".
A day later, another anonymous Facebook user posted that they were starting a crowdfunding page for him.
Within five days, they'd almost reached their target.
Herman said that he was overcome with emotion when he received the money from the students.
He'd never mentioned anything about wanting to go away, so receiving the money was "out of the blue".
"I don't know if you know that song - 'Many a tear has to fall/But it's all in the game'," he said.
"That's what happened. A lot of tears."
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