Florida Family Uses Pizza Guy To Check On Grandma During Matthew
For one family Hurricane Matthew posed a threat to their dear grandmother who resides in Palm Coast, Florida.
When the family members of 87-year-old grandmother Claire Olsen couldn’t reach her they ordered a pizza. No not a pizza for themselves, but a pizza for Claire.
Claire who lives alone in Florida has family members spread out over three states. After Hurricane Matthew hit on Saturday, the family became extremely worried when they couldn’t reach Olsen on the phone.
“Well, I talked to her on Friday morning, and she had just lost power, and she said, ‘This is a nightmare,'” Eric Olsen told ABC News, “and then we didn’t hear from her for two days.”
After calling the police department and sheriff’s department and getting no answer Olsen decided to get creative.
“So I just said, ‘I’m going to order her a pizza, and if they can deliver it, then I know she’s alive,'” Eric Olsen said.
Olsen said he wrote special instructions when he placed the pizza order to have the deliveryman call his phone when the pizza was delivered. He then asked the deliveryman to give his cellphone to Claire so he could hear her voice and make sure she was OK.
Olsen said he felt relief when he heard his grandmother’s voice on the other end of the line.
“Police and fire couldn’t do it, but Papa John’s got there in 30 minutes and put the cellphone to her ear,” he joked.
He said he got the idea of ordering a pizza when he got to thinking ,’Who can go there right now?’
In a city where he knows no one, Olsen resorted to Papa Johns as his last option to make sure Claire was OK.
He added, “People are asking why I didn’t call the police and ask them to do a wellness check, but I did. Trust me, Papa John’s was a last resort.”
Olsen further explained that he lives in Nebraska, his father is in South Dakota and his sister lives in Los Angeles, there were no relatives in Florida to get to Claire quick and check on her.
The pizza deliveryman, Lance Tyler, told WFTV that when he saw Claire speak to her grandson on his phone, “Her expression was just priceless.”
