Buffalo teen gets job, car and college scholarship after cleaning up street following protests

Antonio Gwynn Jr., 18, demonstrated on May 29, four days after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police officers, the Washington Post reported. The next day he followed the protests online and saw that nearby Bailey Avenue was in tough shape. he followed the protests online and saw that nearby Bailey Avenue was in tough shape. So at 2 a.m., technically on the morning of June 1, he grabbed a broom, a dust pan, some trash bags and hopped in a rented UHaul, according to local ABC affiliate WKBW. Gwynn spent the next 10 hours cleaning up the street. (@sweetbuffalo716)

Now he’s really cleaning up.

A Buffalo teenager has now been promised a job, a car and a college scholarship after cleaning up a local street following anti-police brutality protests.

Antonio Gwynn Jr., 18, demonstrated on May 29, four days after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police officers, the Washington Post reported. The next day he followed the protests online and saw that nearby Bailey Avenue was in tough shape.

So at 2 a.m., technically on the morning of June 1, he grabbed a broom, a dust pan, some trash bags and hopped in a rented UHaul, according to local ABC affiliate WKBW. Gwynn spent the next 10 hours cleaning up the street.

“It was pretty quiet, and I thought maybe I could finish cleaning it before people started going to work," Gwynn told the Post. “I just didn’t want people to have to drive through all that trash on the street.”

Antonio Gwynn Jr. followed the protests online and saw that nearby Bailey Avenue was in tough shape. So at 2 a.m., technically on the morning of June 1, he grabbed a broom, a dust pan, some trash bags and hopped in a rented UHaul, according to local ABC affiliate WKBW. Gwynn spent the next 10 hours cleaning up the street. (@sweetbuffalo716)

A neighbor snapped some photos of Gwynn hard at work and posted them on Facebook, and his story took off.

Last month, Gwynn was a high school senior hoping to save up for college. Now, he’s got three things all students dream of: a car, a full ride and a job.

Buffalo resident Matt Block, 27, gifted Gwynn his 2004 Ford Mustang convertible, WKBW reported. “I couldn’t come to grips with selling it and this was a good way for me to get rid of it and know someone that gets it is going to appreciate it," Block said.

Medaille College, a local liberal arts school, has offered Gwynn a four-year scholarship, according to the Associated Press. “I’m actually pretty excited because I didn’t have an actual plan, but now this is helping me put more of my life ahead," Gwynn said.

And Buffalo mayor Byron Brown said Gwynn took him up on his post-grad job offer in the city’s buildings department.

“It was unbelievable. I didn’t do this for any attention,” Gwynn told the Post. “When I woke up and saw I was getting all these texts and tags thanking me, I couldn’t believe it.”