Over $17,000 was raised for a Long Island bus driver who lost her job after getting caught drinking a White Claw hard seltzer while driving students home, VT News reported.
Amal Hanna, 60, was let go from her position after she was reportedly caught drinking while driving students home from Smithtown High School West, according to VT News.
The GoFundMe was created on Oct. 6. As of Wednesday, there have been over 600 donations, raising over $18,000.
“Miss Hanna has been a beloved bus driver for 15 years. The children on her bus said she was is kindest woman who was like a grandma to them. She is undergoing chemotherapy and made an honest mistake that cost her her job,” the description reads.
“My children were on the bus that day. They knew the circumstances had to be a mistake,” organizer Candice Farrell said in the description. “Emotionally and financially she needs help.”
Hanna told News 12 Long Island that she was unaware that she was drinking an alcoholic seltzer. She thought it was an ordinary fruit-flavored seltzer. She said due to the chemotherapy, she had been having trouble tasting and did not taste any alcohol in the drink, the outlet reported.
“I have been crying and crying, I don’t even have any more tears. It was just a mistake, it was a mistake,” she told the outlet. (RELATED: Bus Driver Allegedly Traps Students Inside Bus. Video Shows Kids Screaming, One Climbing Out The Window)
“Once aware, the district intervened immediately and bus company staff met the bus driver at Great Hollow Middle School prior to dismissal,” Mark Secaur, the Smithtown Central School District Superintendent, told parents in an email, according to the New York Post.
Long Island school bus driver fired for drinking while taking kids home https://t.co/gmPvW5GfD0 pic.twitter.com/NxnjVDBQet
— New York Post (@nypost) October 5, 2023
“It was confirmed that an alcoholic beverage was on board, and the driver was promptly taken from the bus, and a different driver completed the route,” he reportedly continued. Secaur explained there is “zero tolerance for this behavior,” the outlet noted.
WE Transport, the school bus company that employs drivers, fired Hanna, a spokesperson for the company confirmed, per the New York Post.
The Suffolk County Police Department found Hanna’s story credible and opted not to press charges against her, VT reported.