Coronavirus has forced many seniors to start working again, due to the need for cash. At one Papa John’s, they happily hired an 89-year-old man to work as a deliveryman. However, the senior pizza deliveryman never expect one of his customers to gift him a massive, $12,000 tip!
The 89-Year-Old Pizza Deliveryman
89-year-old Derlin Newey, left, has become a celebrity in his hometown in Roy, Utah. There, the senior needed to start delivering for Papa John’s when social security would not cut it during the pandemic. However, Newey never let it get him down! Now, he works a full 40 hours a week and always delivers the pizza with a smile. In fact, Newey’s known around Roy for always arriving at a customer’s door and asking, “Hello, are you looking for some pizza?” in a cheerful tone.
Carlos Valdez, right, along with his wife and children, are just a few of Newey’s fans in Roy. Newey’s fans spread far beyond Utah now, however. That’s because Valdez and his family adored the senior deliveryman’s happy nature so much that they started to record his pizza drop off and sharing them with Carlo’s 53,000 followers on social media. “It’s insane. Everybody loves him,” said Valdez. Sadly, there was one problem…
Raising Money For Those In Need
Unfortunately, while nearly everyone loved Newey, many felt anger at seeing a man approaching 90 working full time. And Carlos agrees. “Somebody at that age should not be working that much,” he added. So the Valdez family decided to work on a little surprise for Newey…
Quickly, the Valdez family came up with an idea: give Newey a massive tip. So, in secret, Carlos set up a crowdfunding page and shared the link with his TikTok. In just a few days, the Valdez and their “TikTok family” raised more than they ever dreamed of! “Collectively as a TikTok community, we all came together, and we were able to raise $12,000 for this amazing person,” Carlos said. Now complete with a large check, the Valdez family was ready to surprise Newey!
The Moment Finally Arrives!
This time around, the Valdez family when to Newey’s house, delivering to him! Carlos also brought along some gag gifts, including a fun T-shirt that said: “Hello, are you looking for some pizza?” on it, as well as a cartoon of the deliveryman. While Newey felt excited to see some of his favorite customers, he had no idea what they were there for. That’s when Carlos revealed that he and his TikTok family had a little something for the 89-year-old man.
“Is that an online group you communicate with each other through the telephone?” Newey asked, curious. However, when he saw the check and realized what had happened, the man could not contain his emotion. Newey immediately started crying. “How do I ever say thank you? I don’t know what to say,” said Newey. “I don’t know what to say, except thank you.”
In the end, Carlos and his family are just happy they could help someone who has helped so many others. “This couldn’t have gone any better,” Carlos said. “He needed this. I’m just glad we could help him. We just need to treat people with kindness and respect the way he does. He stole our hearts.”