Veteran delivery man struggling to drop off groceries goes viral

‘It just blew up like crazy, there’s so many nice people around here,' delivery man says

An elderly veteran in Utah has gone viral after a woman recorded him struggling to drop off groceries at her house while working to raise funds to fix his broken roof.

Jen Cantell Weiss shared footage on her Facebook earlier this month of the delivery driver struggling to walk up the steps to her home in Ogden, Utah, with a large package.

“I had an order delivered this AM and the gentleman doing the delivery really struggled getting up my stairs with the pack of soda,” Ms Cantell Weiss said in the original post.

“I didn't watch this video til after he was already gone, or else I would have gone out to help him. Seeing this video makes me feel so bad.”

The mother said she and her friends had tipped the man the maximum $100 that the delivery app would allow and shared his Venmo in an appeal for members in the community to help raise money to cover the repairs.

"I was concerned for him and wanted to learn more about his situation and what I could do to help him so he wouldn't need to do deliveries anymore, especially during the winter months," Ms Cantell Weiss told Fox 10.

One of Larry’s relatives saw the post on Facebook and put Ms  Cantell Weiss and the veteran in touch, ABC 4 reported.

“I have been in touch with him and he is overwhelmed with gratitude,” she wrote on Facebook.

“He did NOT ask for any help, but I love that people are touched by his story and want to help lighten his load a bit. Thank you so much everyone!”

Larry explained to ABC 4 that he suffered a stroke earlier in the year and had taken the job to raise extra money to fix the hole in his roof.

“I was just making some extra money because our swamp cooler blew off our roof, we have a big hole, I got it taped up, needed some extra money to fix that,” he told the outlet.

Ms Cantell Weiss later posted an update on the original appeal for donations saying that Larry and his wife were “so grateful” for the help. 

ABC 4 reported that Larry now has the money to fix his roof and has quit the deliveries.

In the post Ms Cantell Weiss stipulated that the couple had asked people to now donate funds to other causes.

“It just blew up like crazy, there’s so many nice people around here,” said Larry.

“And I was just trying to get them to donate to the food banks and toys for tots or something, instead of giving me money,” he said.

Many on social media interpreted the sentiment behind the story as heartwarming while others criticised the fact the money needed to be raised to begin with.

“Here in America, a veteran who recently had a stroke can’t receive enough assistance to keep a proper roof over his head. This makes me sick,” one user posted.

“We shouldn’t be celebrating this. We as a society need to do better so this doesn’t need to happen,” another said.