Although many industries are suffering as a result of the pandemic, that isn’t true of some necessary jobs. One of the jobs that seem to have gotten a boost during 2020 is that of delivery drivers. They are considered to be essential workers in many parts of the world, and if you need food delivered to you, you suddenly realize just how essential they are.
Although some people may consider food delivery drivers to just be someone that drops off a meal on occasion, there are others who realize what these essential workers must go through. Perhaps they will give extra as a tip, helping them and their family to get through a difficult time. There may be other things that you can do for delivery drivers as well, and sometimes, it’s a good idea to get creative.
That is what leads us to a small town of about 5000 residents: Tipton, Indiana. Just like in many major metropolitan areas, Tipton takes advantage of food delivery from the local Pizza Hut. One of the drivers is Robert Peters, but most of the town residents call him “Mr. Smiles.” Peters isn’t a newcomer to the restaurant scene, he has been delivering pizza for 31 years.
According to one happy customer, Tanner Langley, that gave an interview with Fox59 News, he has a smile on his face every time you see him and he has never been lacking joy in his job.
As I’m sure you can appreciate, it isn’t always easy to be upbeat, especially when problems occur. For Peters, problems came in the form of his Oldsmobile, which was almost 3 decades old and it finally decided to stop running. Langley heard about the problem and started a GoFundMe page to help. On that page, he talked about how cheerful the delivery driver was and how he had never heard anything negative about him.
They set the initial goal at $12,000 but it only took a week for $18,000 to be raised by the community.
They took the money and purchased a 2017 Chevy Malibu for Peters and then lined his pockets with $2500 in cash. An update was posted on Facebook so the community could appreciate what they pulled together to do.
Although Peters felt that it was a luxury, he was also appreciative and felt loved knowing that the community was behind him in what he did for them.