An 87-year-old DoorDash driver in Washington state accidentally pulled up to the wrong house during a delivery and that one mistake ended up changing everything about his life.
We’ve all been there right. You feel like you took a wrong turn in life. You’re at the wrong place the wrong job the wrong position and you’re asking God why did you put me here. But God doesn’t do mistakes. If He put you there He has a plan for it. And for this 87-year-old man that wrong turn on a delivery route turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to him.
An 87-Year-Old Man Just Trying to Get By
Joe Symonds had been delivering for DoorDash for about a year and a half. He’s 87 years old. The man was out there hauling food up staircases and navigating neighborhoods just to pay off debt and afford his medication. He said the hardest part was climbing stairs with the deliveries and that he’d even tripped and fallen a few times on flat ground.
“I’ve had a few issues on flat ground where I’ve managed to trip myself and fall down,” he said. “Fortunately, nothing serious has happened.”
An Unexpected Encounter with a Stranger
One day Joe showed up at the wrong address in Vancouver, Washington. A woman named Alyona Dikiy was out cleaning her garage and she noticed him. He looked disoriented and she could tell something wasn’t right. So she did what a lot of people wouldn’t do.
She walked over and started talking to him. When she found out he was 87 she was floored. “You couldn’t imagine that being your own grandpa or grandma doing that,” she said.
She gave Joe $100 right there and told him to go home for the rest of the day. Then with his permission she recorded a quick video and started a GoFundMe to help him retire. “Once it was at like $400, I was like, ‘Joe, we’re at like $400! You can take a couple of days off!'” she recalled. “Then it just kept going up and up and up.”
The World Showed Up
By Monday the fundraiser had blown past $30,000. People from all over the world were donating to a man they had never met. Joe could barely believe it. As of today, the GoFundMe page has raised over $44,000 to help Joe retire
“I think you’re the kindest, most fantastic people that I could imagine,” he said. “I never thought there were people like that — people who would donate to a complete stranger they had never met.”
And it wasn’t just the money that changed things for him. Joe said he can now buy a pair of shoes without wondering if he can afford it. He and Alyona have become real friends. And the way he talks about her just says it all. “She’s my angel,” he said.
Alyona sees it more simply. “I think that a lot of people have really good hearts,” she said.
God Puts People Exactly Where They Need to Be
Joe went to the wrong house. It was a mistake. He wasn’t supposed to be there. But God knew exactly what He was doing. We serve a God who takes our wrong turns and transforms them into beautiful testimonies.
WATCH: 87-Year-Old DoorDash Driver Makes a Wrong Turn and His Life Changes Forever
