SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED
Young men take Valentine’s joy to workers
The convenience store clerk couldn’t help but notice the four youths when they stepped out of a white limousine that had pulled into the busy parking lot on Valentine’s Day.
Dressed in dapper black tuxedos, and loaded down with heart-shaped boxes of candy, necklaces and other gifts, the youths strutted into the 7-Eleven store at 4309 SE 29 in Del City.
The eyes of several customers swiveled in their direction but no one’s eyes were more fixated on the group than those of store clerk Alyssa Morris.
“Whhaaatttt’s haappppeeennning?” Morris said as she tried to nudge her co-worker.
Turns out, the youths were there to
see her.
Grinning, Kruz Laviolette, 9; Jeremiah Riley, 14; Darrius Jackson, 12; and Damarion Jackson, 14, presented the chocolate and gifts to Morris and her colleague.
“This is for you. Happy Valentines Day!” they said.
That scenario played out over and over again on Wednesday as the youths, led by their mentors Taylor Doe and Brandon Andrews, handed out treats to women working the Valentine’s Day night shift at 15 fast food restaurants along SE 29 from Sunnylane Road to Sooner Road.
Doe said the youths were “spreading kindness, one drive-thru at a time” as part of the Fast Food Valentines initiative he founded in 2009.
Along the way, the group never failed to win smiles from the women behind the counters
and one customer at Burger King noted that they probably won some hearts, too.
“Ya’ll are clean. Ya’ll got some hot dates tonight?” the customer asked, prompting the youths to giggle.
Morris, at 7-Eleven, said the youths’ charming delivery was just what she needed on a busy night.
“It was really sweet and it actually had me speechless,” she said.
“They ready did make my night so much better.”
Doe, 29, said he started Fast Food Valentines while attending college at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. He said it was part of a program he began called Reach, which aimed to care for people in unique ways.
Doe said he originally started Fast Food Valentines when he and a few college buddies delivered chocolate treats to the women working the night shift on Valentine’s Day at his favorite eatery, Whataburger.
“I went so much in college that I started to get to the know the staff. I was talking with Jennifer, a Whataburger employee, and she was telling me how bummed she was that she had to work on Valentine’s Day,” Doe said.
For a while, Doe’s efforts spurred other groups on other college campuses to conduct the surprise Valentines deliveries.
“Sometimes, Valentines Day can be lonely for people. This changes the narrative,” he said.
Nowadays, Fast Food Valentines is as much about the messengers as it is about the messages of care they deliver.
Doe said several years ago he began allowing youths to join in the initiative. He said they are boys who have participated in his character education program at northeast Oklahoma City schools. With the blessing of their families, Doe took the youths along for the first time and they loved it.
Wednesday, Doe and Andrews, an educator who also has mentored the youths, treated them to dinner and helped them get suited up in tuxedos — a first for them. With their mothers proudly taking pictures, the youths were delighted to learn that they would travel in a limousine to
hand out their surprises.
Seeworth Academy student Jeremiah, who couldn’t help doing a dance move every now and then, said he enjoyed making the deliveries.
“I like to see the ladies’ faces when they receive our gifts,” he said. “I like when they give us hugs. It makes me happy to see them happy.”
Laisha Jordan, the mother of Jeremiah and Kruz, said she knew her sons enjoyed themselves.
“They just feel happy when they come home,” she said. “There’s a need for positivity because our boys can get negativity from anywhere.”
Positive vibes were aplenty on Wednesday.
Naomi Villa, an employee at Little Caesar’s, 4500 SE 29, beamed as the youths handed her a box of candy.
“It’s really nice,” she said, smiling as the youths walked out of the restaurant. “And they looked really cute.”
Like Jordan, Doe said the youths get as much out of the effort as the Valentines recipients.
“There’s a broadbased narrative that gets painted over them (black boys) specifically, but these guys are much more than that,” he said.
“These guys are truly compassionate. This is an opportunity to change that narrative.”