ST. GEORGE — Window washer Tyler Young says he’s a social butterfly. So it was just a natural thing for him as he was washing the windows at the McDonald’s on Sunset Boulevard near midnight to strike up a conversation with one of the workers leaving at the end of their shift.

The end of that April 18 conversation would result in a community coming together to make one man’s commute much easier. 

The worker and Young had a back-and-forth conversation about their work. As they parted ways, the worker, named Avery, told Young he had a two-hour walk home. When Young then asked when he had to come back to work, Avery said he had to walk two hours back to start his next shift at 6 a.m. 

Reliving the story later to St. George News, Young said he realized that, at best, the McDonald’s worker would get an hour or two of sleep after getting home before making the two-hour walk back. Young asked what he could do to help, but Avery, who has preferred to keep his last name anonymous, refused help. 

Young, the owner of Precision Power Washing, said he was still determined to find some way to help. He just didn’t know how. 

“The reason I started my company was to try to get the financial freedom to help others, if that makes sense,” Young said, noting it was always a dream of his to make a helpful impact on a stranger. “Don’t get me wrong, we all do it for the money. But there’s also a lot deeper things than the money.”

Young said it was just “me and my mom” after he was 3 years old and recalled his uncle’s generosity growing up. He wanted to be like his uncle to others.

The now 22-year-old who was just starting out in life with his own business found out that he wouldn’t be alone in his eagerness to help others. After posting online about his experience, several others asked to join him in his effort. 

Within a day or so, more than $1,000 was raised. And Avery is now “loving it,” commuting to work on a new electric bike.

Young arguably is at the point of life when someone usually learns that real life may have much more meanness and lack of fairness than expected. But Young said he feels strongly that there are ultimately more good people than mean people, and that being nice costs nothing. 

“It’s free to be nice,” Young said. “I’ve learned that it’s a lot easier to be nicer than mean. I’ve tried to be mean. I mean, I’m a business owner. Why argue about a simple mistake when I can just go fix it and keep everybody happy? But it also makes you feel special in this world.”

Young wasn’t that unfamiliar with the work Avery was doing. He worked at the very same McDonald’s while he was in school under the same manager.

He had kept in touch with the manager since then.

“I texted her and I was like, ‘Hey, what’s this guy’s story like? Is he taking advantage?’” Young said. “And she’s like, ‘He works his butt off. He got a $100 tip last week’ and they’re actually promoting him to a manager.”

But these days, $100 doesn’t buy a bike.

About the time Avery got back to work at 6 the next morning, Young was posting on the popular local Facebook group,  “St. George Word of Mouth.”

“I’m looking to help out someone I met tonight while working,” Young’s post read. “What I’m trying to ask is if anyone has a bike for sale or a electric scooter they would be willing to sale to let me know!”

Word of mouth got out quick. Within minutes, there were comments mentioning old secondhand bikes available and offers of bus passes. But busses aren’t a help – Suntrans doesn’t start until just before 6 a.m. and the last bus departs just before 8 p.m.

Young put up his Venmo link, which he promised to take down as soon as enough was raised. 

Within a day, $1,021 was raised. Young put up the remaining $300 or so and purchased a new e-bike.

All of this time, Young said Avery had no idea that several members of the community were coming together to help him.

Two days after they first met, Young came back to the McDonald’s. At first, it was bad news for Avery.

“I went in there and I was like, ‘Avery, I need you to come out here. You guys keep spilling grease out here,’” Young said. 

Young said Avery walked out tentatively. Then he noticed a RadRover6 bike sitting next to Young’s pickup.

“Whose bike is that?” Young said Avery asked.

“It’s Avery’s bike,” Young replied.

“He started to actually tear up a little bit,” Young said. 

Those tears were contagious. 

“It made me tear up because this community really helped with a dream of mine,” Young said. 

Last Thursday, Young received a Mayor’s Special Recognition Award from Mayor Michele Randall during the St. George City Council meeting. While giving the honor to Young, Randall said during the meeting the award was actually reflective of a whole community coming together. 

 “It’s the Dixie Spirit in action, and I am so happy to see a group of our residents come together to make a difference in somebody’s life,” the mayor said. 

As for Young, he said his dream of helping others is just beginning.

“Now the dream’s just going to get bigger,” Young said. “It’s cool to be able to do it at my age right now because it’s an early head start. I could do this until I’m 60.”

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