An 87-year-old DoorDash driver in Vancouver, Washington, has gotten some unexpected financial help after accidentally delivering food to the wrong address. Joe Symonds, who’s been making deliveries for the past year and a half to help cover daily expenses and medication costs, mistakenly arrived at the home of Alyona Dikiy while making a delivery. She says she noticed Symonds appeared disoriented and later learned he was still working long hours at his age despite his physical challenges.
During their conversation, Symonds told Dikiy that the work had become difficult and that he’d had a couple of falls while climbing stairs and completing deliveries. She gave him $100 and encouraged him to rest for the day before asking permission to share his story online. She later posted a video and started a crowdfund campaign to help reduce his financial burden and possibly allow him to retire.
The fundraiser initially raised a few hundred dollars before donations quickly ramped up to more than $45-thousand from supporters around the world. Symonds thanked donors and said he never expected strangers to contribute money to help someone they’d never met. Dikiy says the experience has reminded her that many people still have kind hearts, while Symonds describes her as his “angel.”
Photo: rockdrigo68 / iStock Editorial / Getty Images