{"id":346,"date":"2023-07-05T19:17:31","date_gmt":"2023-07-05T19:17:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/used82.com\/?p=346"},"modified":"2023-07-05T19:17:31","modified_gmt":"2023-07-05T19:17:31","slug":"at-89-elderly-pizza-delivery-man-who-works-30-hour-weeks-is-moved-to-tears-by-social-media-family-donations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/used82.com\/?p=346","title":{"rendered":"At 89, Elderly Pizza Delivery Man Who Works 30-Hour Weeks Is Moved To Tears By Social Media \u2018Family\u2019 Donations"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Carlos Valdez and his family feel a craving for pizza, they always turn to the same place; a Papa John\u2019s in their Utah neighborhood. However, while the pizza is always good, what really delivers was the branch\u2019s 89-year-old employee who always greeted them with \u201cHello, are you looking for some pizza?\u201d whenever he made the delivery.<\/p>\n

Like many senior citizens, Newey found that his pension just wasn’t enough to cover his monthly bills, so after retirement, he went back to work delivering pizzas. Despite being in his golden years, Dewey punched in and out of the Papa John\u2019s he worked at for about 30 hours a week.<\/p>\n

The Valdez family was so taken by delivery driver Derlin Newey\u2019s optimism that they decided to share clips of his greetings with their 53,000 TikTok fans through their channel @vendingheads. The videos demonstrating the goodwill and kindness offered by Newey racked up such a strong following that Valdez decided it was only fitting to return the favor, and the community responded.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s insane. Everybody loves him,\u201d Valdez\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0CNN.<\/p>\n

The Valdez family always enjoyed their interactions with him and began asking for him by name whenever they wanted their pizza delivered. Their TikTok followers loved Newey too, but questions began to pour in about why such an elderly man was still working delivering pizzas.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomebody at that age should not be working so much,\u201d Valdez said.<\/p>\n

This inspired the Valdez family to reach out to their followers in September 2020 to pull off a sweet surprise together for Newey. They asked users to donate what they could for Newey, hoping they could surprise him with a combined \u201ctip\u201d of a few hundred dollars, but they were soon in for a surprise themselves.<\/p>\n

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After the Valdez family reached out to their followers for donations, they ended up collecting far more for Newey than they ever thought possible at the start.<\/p>\n

\u201cCollectively as a community, we all came together and we were able to raise over $12,000 for this amazing person,\u201d Valdez\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0KSL 5 TV.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

With the check signed by the \u201cTikTok Family,\u201d this time, Valdez, his wife and their daughter found themselves knocking on Newey\u2019s door with a delivery of their own.<\/p>\n

The surprise was filmed and shared on Twitter with a caption that\u00a0read<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201c89-year old Derlin Newey started delivering pizzas to make ends meet. He never thought one of his customers would change everything.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Newey, who lives alone, had absolutely no inkling of the surprise, nor was he entirely familiar with TikTok as an app. \u201cYou communicate with each other through the telephone?\u201d he said in the clip.<\/p>\n

The Valdezs then presented the check to Newey, who quickly broke down.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do I ever say thank you?\u201d Newey struggled to say through tears. \u201cI don\u2019t know what to say.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Valdez family and Newey were both inspired by how generously the community had come together, with Newey even quipping, \u201cThere\u2019s hope!\u201d<\/p>\n

For Valdez, the entire experience not only lived up to his expectations but exceeded them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis couldn\u2019t have gone any better,\u201d he said in the clip, and\u00a0added<\/a>, \u201cHe needed this. I\u2019m just glad we could help him. \u2026 We just need to treat people with kindness and respect the way he does. He stole our hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n

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