Fundraiser For Woburn Bus Driver Up To Over $7K

WOBURN, MA — The GoFundMe for a Woburn bus driver who was injured in a severe car accident is up to over $7,000.

As of Friday afternoon, $7,296 has been raised for Hurld-Wyman Elementary bus driver Mike Morse, of the $10,000 goal.

GoFundMe organizer Lauren Burgess shared more with Patch about why she started the fundraiser for Morse.

Mike has been my son's bus driver since he started Kindergarten and he is now in 5th grade. I have twin girls that Mike has known since they were born and we were all looking forward to them beginning Kindergarten this year and having Mike as their driver, too. My son had severe anxiety when he started school 6 years ago. It was very difficult to get him on the bus.

I quietly explained to Mike, on the first day of school, that James was extremely anxious about getting on the bus and going to school. He immediately reassured me that he would be fine and some how, some way, Mike got James on that bus every day. Mike would give him a high five, a fist pump, tell him a funny joke, or just tell James to stop crying and get on the bus. I loved Mike's sense of humor about it. It was exactly what James needed and it worked.

About 2 years ago, there was an incident on the bus with another student. This student said something inappropriate to Mike while on the bus. James told the other student to leave Mike alone and Mike never forgot that. He was proud to have James on his bus. I've told Mike on numerous occasions that if it hadn't been for him, James would have never gotten on that bus.

Mike only got to drive my 3 children for 1 day before the accident. James had heard about the accident in school and immediately told me what happened when he got home that day.

My husband was able to get his phone number and we waited until we heard he was well enough before we reached out. I sent him a text message. He called me back about an hour later so we could talk. He told me about the accident and how horrific it really was.

He didn't think he was going to make it out of the truck. I can't imagine what that must have been like for him. I told him that James missed him and asked about him every day. Mike got choked up thinking about how much he missed all the kids and about how much the kids miss him.

I told him that we would love to see him whenever he was up for company. He said he would come to us this past weekend. I told him James had a soccer game Saturday morning and Mike said he would be there to surprise him. Sure enough, Saturday morning came and Mike, his wife and their grandson all came to watch the game. Mike cheered on all the kids that he knew from both teams. It was really sweet to see them come over to him after the game to say hello, and give him a hug.

They were so happy to see him as was he to see them. During the game I spoke with his wife. She is just as wonderful as Mike is. I learned that she was going to retire soon but because of the accident she had to wait. Mike still has a long road ahead of him but he is slowly recovering.

My husband and I decided that night that we would come up with the GoFundMe for Mike and his family. We felt like it was the least we could do for him since he had done so much for James, our family and with the Woburn community. I set it up Sunday evening and we had almost $1,000 raised in less than 2 hours. I received messages on Facebook from people I didn't even know looking to donate hundreds of dollars to Mike because he had been their child's bus driver, too, and their family felt the same way that we did. Another message I received was from a fellow mother who said that her son also had anxiety about going on the bus but Mike made sure that child was ok, just like he did with James.

After three days we had reached 50% of our goal. Mike got wind of what we had done and called me to thank me. He was very humbled by the whole thing. I told him that there are a lot of people and families out there that truly care about him. I am hoping to reach our goal of $10,000.

However, I know that any little bit we can give Mike and his family will help tremendously. I greatly appreciate everyone who has taken the time to share the fundraiser, share a memory of Mike, share a picture of their child on the bus with Mike or donate to him and his family. These things alone show how wonderful Mike has been to so many families in Woburn. It's been an amazing thing to be a part of.

The GoFundMe for Morse can be found here.

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