Remember that time or two when Social Media didn't suck? And neither did humanity? Here's one of those times.
Floyd Martin has been a mail carrier in Marietta, GA for over 20 years. Retirement is upon him, and the people on his route decided to show him just how beloved he is. It so happens his route includes Jennifer Brett, who is a journalist for the Atlanta Journal Constitutional, and she hopped in his mail truck to keep him company on the last day of his mail deliveries. According to The Washington Post,
Neighbors in Marietta decorated their mailboxes for him, presented him with gifts and threw a tearful block party as they recounted all they ways he has been more than a mail carrier over the past 20 years.
Jennifer Brett, a journalist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, wanted to document what her town was doing for Martin, so on his last day, she jumped in his truck with him and rode along as he delivered mail to some of the 500 houses on his route. Then she wrote a Twitter feed about what she saw.“Mr. Floyd is our hometown celebrity,” Brett said in an interview with The Washington Post.
Well, one of the neighbors knew about that Hawaii dream, and started a GoFundMe for Mr. Martin. You can probably guess what happened on social media...
The fundraiser stated growing Friday morning and has reached more than $13,000. People left comments including, “This guy reminds me of our guy, Reggie. There are truly amazing people out there. Happy retirement!”
Then Delta Air Lines called Brett and offered to fly Martin to Hawaii for free, Brett said.
“Twitter can be good and bad,” Brett said. “I’m so glad this is turning out good.”
At the end of his route, there was a block party waiting for him. Over 300 people attended, and according to Ms. Brett, approximately a zillion people posed for pictures with him. He read aloud the letters and cards people wrote to him, and it seems this gentleman is getting a bit of a sense of the impact his presence in their lives has made. Humble about it, still, he simply asked that people smile when they think of him.
That seems a given.
