MANILA, Philippines — Good Samaritans come in many forms; but sometimes, they don’t show themselves and just ask food delivery riders to do the good deeds for them.
Such was the case of a food delivery customer who booked a rider last November 23.
It was just another busy day for Mark Berdan when he accepted a booking from this extraordinary customer. Little did he know that he was about to be moved by the unusual yet heartwarming request of the customer.
As was usual, after accepting the transaction he went to fetch the order — 35 pieces of burger from a fast-food chain in Montillano street, Alabang.
Following the delivery protocol, Berdan messaged and informed the customer that was on his way to drop off the order. However, he was suddenly told not to go to the customer’s address.
“[K]uya hindi mo na kailangan pumunta [dito]. [Y]ung 30 [pieces] ng burger pamigay mo along the way dyan sa mga nasa kalsada na nagugutom,” the customer replied to Berdan.
(There is no need to go here. Distribute the 30 pieces of burger to starving people that you will see along the way.)
The customer also told Berdan to take home five burgers for his family.
Baffled by the customer’s demand, Berdan was at first skeptical and asked if it was just a joke. He even insisted on delivering the goods to the customer.
But the customer insisted, saying: “Hindi [ito joke], kuya, ginagawa ko yan lagi.”
(No, this is not a joke, I’ve been doing this for quite some time now.)
Berdan decided to give away the burgers to street dwellers and the homeless.
He initially sent pictures of himself giving away the burgers to the customer, but he was told that there was no need for him to “show proof.”
Berdan instead turned to Facebook to thank the unknown benefactor. His post became viral, gaining close to 10,000 reactions, as of posting time, and had been shared almost 9,000 times, with netizens praising both the customer and Berdan for their kind gesture.
“Masaya po at nagulat ako sa sinabi po nya na ipamigay daw po sa mga taong nagugutom sa kalsada na madadaanan ko po kasi expect ko po didiliver po sa kanya ma’am,” Berdan told Inquirer.net over the weekend.
(I was happy and shocked when the customer told me to give the food to starving people in the street. I was expecting to deliver those to the customer.)
He thanked his customer once again for helping the people in need.
“Masasabi ko lang po sa customer maraming salamat po sa talaga at sana po marami pa po syang matulungan maliit man para sa kanya malaking tulong naman para sa natulungan nya god bless po,” he said.
(The only thing I want to say to my customer is: thank you and I hope he/she can help more people in the future. This might be a small act for the customer but it is a huge thing for the people who received his/her help.)