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ROY — An 89-year-old Weber County man has become “TikTok famous” after a family gave a big tip for pizza delivery.
There are as many places to get pizza as there are toppings. When Carlos Valdez starts getting his craving, he chooses Papa John’s in Roy.
“I love pineapple on my pizza,” he said with a laugh. “That’s the only thing my wife loves.”
It’s not so much because they think it’s the best-tasting pizza in the area, but more because of the delivery guy.
The Valdezes have gotten to know Derlin Newey from his deliveries to their house.
“Hello, are you looking for some pizza?” is a phrase Newey uses every time he delivers to them.
Newey is always so kind, the Valdezes ask for him by name whenever they order. They also record his deliveries for their TikTok videos, which have become pretty popular with their 53,000-plus followers.
“It’s insane. Everybody loves him,” said Valdez.
One comment that kept coming up, is why an 89-year-old man was delivering pizzas. A lot of people commented they felt sad for him.
“Somebody at that age should not be working that much,” said Valdez.
So, the Valdezes got an idea. Using their popular @vendingheads TikTok name, they asked their followers to donate a little money to help Newey out if they could.
They thought maybe they’d get a few dollars.
Instead, they got a lot more.
“Collectively as a TikTok community, we all came together, and we were able to raise $12,000 for this amazing person,” said Valdez.
89-year old Derlin Newey is a pizza delivery man who received a surprise delivery of his own today. A couple who got to know him from his pizza deliveries raised $12,000 to help him out. He had no idea. The full story runs tonight on @KSL5TV at 6. #ksltv#goodnewspic.twitter.com/Z83K5LTKPh
— Alex Cabrero (@KSL_AlexCabrero) September 22, 2020
Tuesday morning, the Valdezes went to Newey’s house to surprise him with a delivery of their own.
“Good morning, dude! How you doing?” said Valdez when Newey opened the door.
He figured they were going to give him a T-shirt with the words “Hello, are you looking for some pizza?” on it. They brought the T-shirt, but he had no idea he was about to get any money.
“We collectively collected a gift for you, and I’m here to deliver that gift to you on behalf of the TikTok community,” said Valdez.
Newey didn’t know what TikTok was.
“Is that an online group you communicate with each other through the telephone?” he asked.
What he did know, though, was what $12,000 looked like.
Even then, he still couldn’t believe it.
“How do I ever say thank you? I don’t know what to say,” said Newey with tears in his eyes.
Turns out, he lives alone in his mobile home and started delivering pizzas because he can’t afford his bills on social security alone.
“I work about 30 hours a week,” said Newey.
Now, with this money from strangers, maybe he won’t have to work so hard.
“I don’t know what to say, except thank you,” said Newey.
It’s a delivery he never expected, proving being kind is priceless.
“This couldn’t have gone any better,” said Valdez. “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.”
