Pizza Deliveryman Checks On Stranger's Grandma After Hurricane
In the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, one family spread out across the country had no way of knowing if their grandmother in Palm Coast, Florida, had weathered the storm.
After 87-year-old Claire Olsen’s phone line was disconnected, family members weren’t able to reach her.
“I talked to her on Friday morning, and she had just lost power, and she said, ‘This is a nightmare,’” Olsen’s grandson, Eric, told ABC News, “and then we didn’t hear from her for two days ... I was calling the police department, I was calling the sheriff’s department, and no one was answering, so I was really worried.”
So he came up with a brilliant ― and delicious ― solution. He ordered a pizza.
Eric Olsen, a Nebraska resident, called Papa John’s and asked to have a pepperoni pizza delivered to his grandmother’s residence, reports WFTV. He also left specific instructions for the deliveryman, Lance Tyler, to call him when Claire answered the door.
When Tyler first came to her door, Claire Olsen was confused. “He knocked on the door and said, ‘Delivery.’ I said, ‘I didn’t order anything.’ He says, ‘Your grandson did,’” Claire Olsen told WFTV.
After she opened the door, Tyler used his cell phone to call Eric Olsen in Nebraska. When Eric Olsen answered, “it sounded like he was worried,” Tyler told WFTV.
Then, he handed the phone over to Claire.
“[He said] ‘Grandma, I haven’t talked to you in two days,’” Claire Olsen told WFTV. “’I got worried about you. You must be hungry by now.’”
Eric Olsen told ABC News that he felt a huge sense of relief when he heard his grandmother’s voice. “Police and fire couldn’t do it,” Eric Olsen joked, “but Papa John’s got there in 30 minutes and put the cellphone to her ear.”
Since then, Claire Olsen’s phone is back in working order and her loved ones know she is safe, according to WQAD.
As for the pepperoni pizza, Claire Olsen said it was “fantastic.”
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