Courtesy Brent Warfield(AUBURN, Ind.) — Eleven-year-old Phil Mick was nervous to start his first day of sixth grade.
According to his mom, Tammy Mick of Auburn, Indiana, Phil had confessed that he didn’t want to return to class after being bullied during his final year of elementary school.
“He was hiding it,” Tammy Mick told ABC News. “He came home with bumps and bruises. He said he wanted to end his life and I stepped up as parent and tried to get things taken care of.”
On Tuesday, Phil showed up for class with 50 bikers on motorcycles behind him.
Brent Warfield, sales manager of KDZ Motorcycle Sales & Service and a mutual friend of the Mick family, decided to step in and help after hearing about Phil’s situation.
“I met Phil and I met Tammy and she had told be about him getting bullied,” Warfield told ABC News. “I said, ‘Well next year get a hold of me and we can give him an escorted ride to school.'”
“When you hear an 11-year-old-kid talking about getting kicked and picked on all because they don’t have as much money or wear nice clothes, being overweight and then having an 11-year-old son myself, it reached down deep and hit me,” he said.
Warfield put a call out on Facebook for bikers to join him in escorting Phil to school on Aug. 1.
That morning, a total of 50 bikers arrived at Phil’s house, bringing with them new clothes and school supplies, Warfield said.
“It gave him confidence,” he explained. “The middle school is a fresh start for him. I’ve talked to him several days since. He goes to school happy, comes home happy.”
Mick said the special day left her son ecstatic.
“I wanted to cry, it was so heartwarming,” she added. “Every day, he talks about that ride. He said it was amazing. [To] Brent and all the riders who came, from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank them. They made my son very happy.”
Mick said she’d like to encourage kids who are being bullied to share it with a loved one.
Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.