Indiana FedEx Driver Surprises Little Girl With Cupcakes On Her Birthday

This man needs a raise ASAP!

A FedEx driver in Indiana surprised a little girl with cupcakes after learning it was her birthday while delivering packages on his route. 

According to Tank’s Good News, driver Jodan Price was making his rounds delivering packages when he met the Paternoster family. The mother, Liz, met Price at the door and apologized to him, letting him know that he might have to return to her address multiple times since they were expecting several deliveries to celebrate their daughter Emma’s 6th birthday. Shortly after, Price returned with 4 ice cream cupcakes for Emma, prompting an emotional response from the entire family. Liz Paternoster took to Twitter  to share the story. 

“Ok @FedEx, our driver deserves a bonus! He realized it was our daughter’s birthday and went to @DairyQueen to get her ice cream cupcakes. He said, ‘I just wanted to do this because if we weren’t in this situation, she’d be celebrating with friends.’ I’m not crying. You’re crying,” Paternoster shared on social media of the kind act.

Before you know it, the story went viral, amassing more than 189,000 likes and nearly 30,000 retweets. “People assume that I knew my delivery guy but we did not know him. This was the very first time I had ever spoken to Mr. Price. I said, ‘Sorry, you may see us a lot today. It’s her Birthday. I opened the door [again]. Emma was upstairs playing with her sister. He said, ‘I just wanted to make your daughter’s birthday special’ [and gave us the cupcakes],” Paternoster told reporters. 

She said the whole thing was emotional and she was really overwhelmed by Price’s generosity. Social distancing mandates put in place as a result of the coronavirus pandemic has put a halt to large gatherings, including birthdays. While many families try to navigate this new normal alone and deal with the emotional aspect of being disconnected from family and friends, the kindness of strangers is enough to have us all tearing up. 

“We are very social people with the friends we have and we love to have big parties. To not be able to have our family over…they all live far away, our close family…it was difficult. So yeah, it meant a ton that someone that I had never even met before…wanted to help out. It was extremely special,” Paternoster said. 

But Price said he just wanted to brighten a little girl’s day, encouraging Emma to share the cupcakes with her family. Before he left again on his route, he said it’s all really simple, “be nice and do for others.” 

Thank you Mr. Price!

Photo Courtesy of Liz Paternoster/Twitter