Larry Farrish Jr. might be the most caring bus driver in America. Farrish, who drives on a route in Louisville, Kentucky, is going viral for his act of kindness after he noticed one boy he picks up, Levi, was having a rough morning.
“Normally when I pull up, he’s standing there waiting for me with a big smile, but on this day, he was sitting on the ground with a jacket over his head,” Farrish told Today.com. “I asked him, ‘Hey buddy, what’s going on? What’s wrong?’”
Levi, who is in first grade at Engelhard Elementary School, told Farrish it was Pajama Day in his class, but he didn’t have any PJs to wear to school. Farrish watched as Levi sat away from his friends on the bus because he was so upset about not being able to participate.
“I thought, ‘I gotta fix this,’” Farrish said.
So after he finished his bus route that morning, he went to Family Dollar and picked up two sets of pajamas. Then, he went back to Levi’s school.
“I said, ‘You were hurting this morning, you were crying, so I got you these pajamas,’” he said, adding that Levi hugged his new PJs to his chest. “He was so excited — you should’ve seen how his face lit up.”
Levi said that Mr. Larry, as the kids call him, made his whole day brighter.
“I can tell Mr. Larry is nice and his heart is filled with joy,” Levi said. “When he got me the pajamas, I did a happy cry.”
Before he was a bus driver, Farrish worked as a correctional officer and a truck driver. But he said driving kids is his calling.
“I’ve been driving buses for seven years. It’s my passion because I get to build bonds with the children,” he explained. “I truly love every minute of it.”
And now he’s rightfully being recognized for going above and beyond and showing how much he cares for the kids. Jefferson County Public Schools posted about him on Facebook, where tons of parents shared how much Mr. Larry means to their kids.
“Mr. Larry is the absolute best. We were blessed with him as our bus driver for 4 years. Top notch human,” one parent wrote in the comments.
