Phoenix school crossing guard wins Pay It Forward Award

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) — We Paid It Forward to Tim Mueller, a crossing guard at Madison Traditional Academy who does all he can to keep the students safe.

Toni Williams, who nominated Tim, said, “Everybody, the parents as well, say ‘hey, Mr. Tim. Thank you, Mr. Tim.’ He will acknowledge them.” Tim would respond by calling them ‘sport’ and ‘superstar.’ “It makes their day, every day. If he’s not there, I get a million questions,” she said. “They really miss him when he is not here.”

Tim has been doing this for the past seven years and he is loved by all the students, staff and parents. Because of his hard work, his coworker Toni wanted to Pay It Forward to him.

We walked up to Tim and said, “We hear you’re one of the most popular people at this school!” We mentioned the wonderful letter Toni sent about Tim and let her take it from there. “There is a program called Pay It Forward from Arizona’s Family and I sent the email,” she tells Tim. “You [were awarded] $500 because you’re a wonderful man and we all love you here.” Tim responds, “well, thank you very much, I will probably put it back into the school.”

Mr. Tim does it all for the school making signs, cleaning up street corners, and even paying for signs that light up out of his own pocket. He says helping others is what it is all about. “I was a public servant for a long time, and I love to serve the public,” he said. “I don’t make a lot of money, but it’s not about the money; it’s about the people.”

If you would like to nominate someone for our Pay It Forward award, just fill out a nomination on our community page.

Copyright 2023 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.