swam non-stop<\/a> for over an hour, logging a total distance of nearly 2.5 miles, according to the Richardson Independent School District. Every lap they swam had a purpose.<\/p>\n\u201cWe want to change a life, and we want to do things that will help other people,\u201d swim coach Eric Ewing said.<\/p>\n
The students raised over $17,000 for Le, more money than they ever thought possible. It was enough to take care of all his hospital bills. The team also surprised him with a new car and a bike to help with his commute, which is over an hour long.<\/p>\n
Le, who is working to become a U.S. citizen, doesn\u2019t speak much English, but he didn\u2019t need words to express his gratitude as he hugged the kids through cheers and laughter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s very surprise for me,\u201d he said. \u201cA big thank you for everybody, for the professors, for all the teachers and all the students.\u201d<\/p>\n
Driven by big hearts and teamwork, the school community came together in an effort the students will never forget \u2013 and neither will Le.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis school is my future and my life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 KTVT via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. Gray News contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RICHARDSON, Texas (KTVT) – A high school swim team from Texas raised nearly $20,000 to help their beloved…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[72766,72762,168,170,169,72763,72767,72765,72764,27],"class_list":["post-181582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-custodians-medical-debt","tag-high-school-swim-team","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news","tag-raises-money-for-school-custodian","tag-surprises-custodian-with-new-car","tag-swim-team-pays-off-custodians-medical-debt","tag-swim-a-thon","tag-texas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}