89-year-old pizza delivery driver had to work 30 hours a week to afford bills—until a customer's surprise changed his life

The kindness of strangers can add up to become a life-changing experience. There is a lot that discourages us from giving our little bit in generosity but there are instances where it’s totally worth it and this is one of them. 89-year-old Derlin Newey had to spend 30 hours a week delivering pizza to make ends meet, KSL TV reported. When he arrived at one particular home, the home of Carlos Valdez (@vendingheads), he had no idea that his life was going to change in the most mesmerizing way. The family shared various clips of how they developed a rapport with the deliveryman as he showed up at their doorstep to deliver pizzas.

While they admired his determination, they, along with many on the internet, wondered why the man was still working. “Somebody at that age should not be working that much,” Valdez remarked. It was learned that Newey lived in a mobile home and his social security wasn’t enough for him to get by. He picked up the job as a deliveryman for Papa John’s to fend for himself. Moved by his dilemma, the family decided to do something generous for the senior citizen. He opened up to the internet and asked fellow TikTokers to contribute the little they could to help Newey. With donations of just a few cents to a dollar, a little went a long way to turn the man’s life around.

The Valdez’s decided to surprise the 89-year-old with their contributions by giving him a delivery. A video captured a pizza box with a t-shirt and a huge check made out to Newey “for being awesome.” In yet another video, the family showed up at the man's doorstep. Unsure what to expect, when Newey first received the t-shirt, he was grateful. The gesture was enough to make his heart full. It had an illustration of the man himself holding a pizza with his signature statement, “Hello, are you looking for some pizza?” But there was more. Newey was then shown the pizza box with the check of over $12,000 that the community had made.

“Together as a community, we were donating 50 cents to a dollar for you and collectively, because there were thousands of people that love you, we collected over $12,000 for you,” Carlos revealed. “No, how could you do such a thing?” Newey remarked in disbelief. With tears filling up in his eyes, the man was ever grateful. “We did nothing here, we’re just the vessel. It’s everybody here on TikTok,” the man explained. “I don’t know what to say, except thank you,” the deliveryman remarked.

This meant a new life, a rest he very much deserved and could now enjoy, thanks to the “TikTok family” and their little that made it a whole generous lot. “This couldn’t have gone any better. 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,” Valdez said. @bage011 wrote, “Well done, guys! This is priceless.” @jayz92703 added, “This makes me cry. We need more generous people like you.” 

You can follow Carlos Valdez (@vendingheads) on TikTok for more content on kindness and humanity. 

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