If you happen to be traveling
along Interstate 35 in Iowa, you
might see a middle-aged man
walking on the shoulder.
Steve Simoff, 61, walks more
than 30 miles to and from his job
as a janitor for the Lakeside Hotel
and Casino in Osceola, IA.
In Southern Iowa, Simoff has
become a public figure that
nobody really knows, his grandson
Steven, 22, told The Des Moines
Register, which first reported the
story.
His job doesn’t start until 11
p.m. But he leaves his basement
apartment that he shares with his
ailing wife, Renee, and Steven in
Davis City, at 3:30 p.m. to get to
his $9.07-an-hour job.
"First of all, when you got a
family, and you've got a job," he
said, "you've got to be able to
support your family. And you've
got to keep your job — the most
two important things I can think
of,” he told The Des Moines
Register. Simoff’s wife suffered from a stroke and a pair of heart attacks,
and his grandson is unemployed.
Between her Social Security
Income checks and his salary,
they’re barely scraping by, he told
The Des Moines Register.
His family has a 2002 Ford
Windstar minivan with 105,000
miles on it, but he usually can’t
afford the gas money. And as a
low-wage worker, he has few
housing options.
His commute would be shorter if
he took Route 69, a state
highway. But more cars travel the
Interstate so the odds he’d get a
ride are in his favor.
Simoff’s story follows James
Robertson’s, a Detroit man who
made headlines last month for
walking 21 miles round trip to his
job for years.
Unlike Robertson, Simoff often
gets rides part of the way from
sympathetic drivers. But that’s
not always reliable, and he still
averages close to four hours a day
walking to work.
"If I don't get to work, bills don't
get paid. As long as my two feet
are good and my health is good, I
don't think I'll change," he said to
The Des Moines Register.
newsday.com/news/nation/steve-simoff-of-davis-city-iowa-walks-more-than-30-miles-to-from-work-1.10007011

no big deal! Here in my beloved naija,my guys cover 100 miles daily looking for work.

Na 10a o