Recently, hordes of West Virginia college kids who "couldn't afford a cup of coffee" shelled out five dollars to help a motherly Starbucks barista buy a new car.

The Starbucks on the Marshall University Campus in Huntington, West Virginia, was always like a small family with Karen Collinsworth, 65, at the head of the table.

The decades-long supervisor at the famous coffee shop location loved what she did, as well as the teams of aspiring young students who made up her staff.

"I love coming into work knowing that she's gonna be there. I talk to her about literally everything," Cassie Gray, a sophomore at Marshall who works at Starbucks with Collinsworth, told TODAY. "She's like my mom when I'm away from home and can't talk to my mom."

TODAY covered the story of an unfortunate double whammy of bad luck that befell Collinsworth when her car—a 2004 Kia that always had some kind of problem—was burglarized; the first thief taking the catalytic converter, and the second going in and stealing interior components.

At this point, Gray and her teammates, who always knew Collinsworth had trouble with her car, decided that there had to be something they could do to help.

Discussing what they might be able to accomplish, the team decided that they might be able to fundraise some money for repairs since so many people around campus knew the 65-year-old barista and valued her.

"We all just kind of talked about it and we floated around the idea of starting a fundraiser for her," Gray said. "After work when I got back to my dorm, I decided to just make it because I figured even if we couldn't raise that much money, any amount would help her. It was just kind of like a spur of the moment (thing)."

After the co-workers all shared it on Instagram, Facebook, and another social media platform called YikYak, their most dreamed-of outcome came true.

As of September 15th, the fundraiser had amassed $40,000, headlined by a $5,000 donation from the president of Marshall University. Eventually, the total got so high that Collinsworth's neighbor spilled the beans before the baristas could surprise her.

TODAY writes that she is looking at new Subarus, all the while feeling the love and goodwill that decades of serving coffee with a smile has accumulated.

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