When A Pizza Delivery Driver Looked Inside A Customer’s Trailer, She Knew She Had To Act Fast

Angela Nguyen was on her usual Saturday shift delivering Domino’s pizzas. That day, just like every Saturday, she knew she’d be making the trip to 76-year-old Lee Haase, who always placed an order at that time. After getting to know Lee, Angela had grown quite fond of him. But something was bothering her. Lee was living in a trailer, you see, and once Angela knew what was inside, she had to act quickly.

A soft spot

Angela was from Anoka County, Minnesota. Although her shifts at Domino’s were long and sometimes strenuous, she loved the constant customer interaction that the role offered her. Angela had a particular soft spot for Lee. But that was to be expected, really, as she had always been one to help those in need.

Doing her bit

Before working at Domino’s, Angela helped people with AIDS and HIV to look after their homes. But after her employer shut down the department, she was going to be out of work. Angela was offered another position at a hospice, but an incident in her personal life meant she just wasn’t ready to take something like that on.

“Just too difficult”

“[Bosses] offered me another position with [a] hospice,” Angela told to The Atlantic in 2016. “But I had a daughter that had died while I was working for Minnesota Visiting Nurses, and it was just too difficult for me to think of going to work with other people that were dying. So I left.” Thankfully, Angela’s eldest daughter, Sarah, had an idea.

Making it work

Sarah, who already worked at Domino’s, suggested her mom join her there. The eldest daughter had children of her own, so she and Angela, she figured, could work opposite shifts so one of them was always home to babysit. The lifestyle worked well for everyone. And at this point, Angela probably had no idea that a job delivering pizzas would still enable her to help the community.

Same time every week

As Angela settled into her new role, she soon became very familiar with one specific customer who lived on the fringes of Anoka County, Minnesota. His name was, of course, Lee. “He likes to order every Saturday,” she told USA Today in 2015. “About 10:15 a.m. you are going to get an order from Lee.”

Absolutely heartbroken

Before Angela met Lee, the elderly gentleman had been through an unimaginable chain of events, leaving him heartbroken. For starters, a horrible storm at the beginning of the year had caused a massive tree to destroy much of his home. The damage was too expensive for Lee to afford, so he was forced to move into a small trailer. But things soon got even worse.

From bad to worse

Lee’s son was then killed in a horrible snowmobiling accident later that year. This destroyed the elderly man, and he sank into a period of depression. But despite everything, Lee was always cheery when either Angela or Sarah stopped by with his pizzas.

Seeing inside

Generally, the women handed Lee his pizza outside, never getting a glimpse at what the living conditions inside the trailer were truly like. That all changed one Saturday when Sarah was working, though. And when she got home, she told Angela what she had seen behind the door. Angela didn’t like what she’d heard one bit.

Awful conditions

Not only was the trailer lacking electricity, but Lee also lived without heat and plumbing. Unable to cook, he ordered his weekly Domino’s. Since it was summer, the lack of heating wasn’t a huge deal, but once winter rolled around? That would be a different story.

Very worried

Angela feared for Lee's safety. Winter was still several months away, but if he didn't find a place with heat and electricity by the time the freezing temperatures blew in, he may not survive. So, Angela and Sarah went above and beyond to help out their elderly friend.

“We got to do something!”

“I thought, ‘We got to do something,’” Angela told USA Today. “We got to do something. We can’t let a human being live like this.” So she bought a heater for Lee’s trailer and even decided to go a little further when delivering his pizzas every Saturday morning.

Above and beyond

“[The pizzas are] what [Lee] would live on on the weekends because he was elderly and couldn’t get Meals on Wheels,” Angela told The Atlantic. “I would look forward to delivering to him and just being a little ray of sunshine to him every Saturday morning, saying, ‘How are you doing, Lee?’ Sometimes, I would stop at the store and grab him a hot cup of coffee and a doughnut before I’d go there with his pizza.” But Angela constantly looked for ways to do more.

Still more to do

“There’s no way somebody can live like that and be fine,” Angela said in a YouTube video produced by Humankind in 2015. “So you just step in, and you do what you got to do.” The pizza delivery driver wouldn’t rest until Lee was out of that trailer.

Raising money

Angela set up a GoFundMe page for Lee, leading to numerous contributions from across the world. “We got donations from as far as Australia,” she told USA Today. Some two months after that, the page had raised more than a whopping $32,000. And this impressive figure sparked the next phase of Angela’s ambitious idea.

New home

Using that money, Angela bought her elderly customer a brand-new home. The local community kindly donated all the furnishings. And the Humankind YouTube video captured the moment Lee finally saw the results of their incredibly hard work. Unsurprisingly, he was touched beyond words.

All choked up

With Angela by his side, Lee is greeted by a number of local volunteers as he walks through the front door. When he is sat down and beginning to settle in and absorb his surroundings, Sarah gives him a warm hug. “You remember when this started, and I promised you we were going to help you?” she tearfully asks Lee during their embrace.

Lee’s response

“It’s wonderful,” Lee later tells the camera crew. “I’m so grateful for [the] people doing this.” After that, Angela gives him a tour of the house, noting that he has plenty of food stored up in the kitchen. Incredibly, his new bedroom is the same size as his old trailer!

Not just for Lee

The interior of the house can be seen covered in festive decorations, and the video closes with Lee and his new friends singing Christmas carols. Angela offers one last heartwarming message about the situation. “Every single one of us enjoyed doing this,” the thoughtful woman tells the camera crew. “This ain’t all for Lee. We all benefited.” And once Angela had started helping the community, she couldn’t stop.

Other Domino’s customers in need

Yep, even though Lee now had a proper roof over his head for the winter, Angela continued to do good deeds for her other Domino’s regulars. “Another customer’s daughter just had surgery for Crohn’s disease and was very, very ill and the mother was out of work,” she told The Atlantic.

What Lee’s up to now

“I started a GoFundMe for her, and we are getting enough donations that her mother doesn’t have to worry about going back to work right now,” Angela continued. “She can just stay home and take care of her daughter.” As for Lee, his weekly routine actually changed following the move to his new home.

No more pizzas

“[Lee] really stood out for quite some time and doesn’t order for delivery anymore because he’s got a stove and a refrigerator and a microwave,” Angela said of her former customer. “Yeah, he stood out for a very long time.”

Community heroes

Word of Angela’s kindness spread far and wide, helping to promote fast-food workers as the undersung heroes of the community. And workers at Florida Pizza Hut confirmed this notion when they, too, went above and beyond for a customer. As the orders at their branch poured in, they worked like crazy, kneading dough, spreading sauce, and drizzling toppings. Then, suddenly, one of them spotted a peculiar detail on an order. And it sent them scrambling to call the authorities.

The order

The pizza makers first saw a pretty average request appear in the system: one large pepperoni pizza with garlic sauce for dunking. As they began to work on the order, they checked for special requests and stopped dead in their tracks. Was this a bad prank? It couldn't be. The order had come from a regular customer after all. Her name was Cheryl Treadway.

Proud Florida mom

Cheryl Treadway couldn't have been happier with the life she had carved out for herself. The 25-year-old mother of three lived with her boyfriend Ethan Nickerson in Florida, where the family enjoyed life under the warm sun nearly all year-round. Cheryl loved Ethan, but it was her kids who truly kept her going.

Worried for her family

Any parent would be proud to raise three beautiful sons like these. They were well-behaved and absolutely adored Cheryl. While they also loved their father, Ethan sadly struggled with drug addiction, which caused occasional outbursts and dangerously irrational behavior. Cheryl was always fearful that, at some point, the kids would find themselves stuck in the middle of a violent incident — and sure enough, that's what happened.

A struggling addict

Cheryl knew Ethan loved his children more than anything. But he was in the throes of a serious drug problem, and the substances completely took his ability to process reality in a calm and rational way. One spring afternoon, Cheryl and Ethan got into a particularly heated argument while he was under the influence.

A life-threatening situation

Thankfully, the heated incident began while the children were at school. As the argument grew more intense, Ethan snatched Cheryl's phone out of her hand. His eyes were filled with inebriated rage, and Cheryl feared for her safety. Then, he grabbed a knife from the kitchen. Cheryl now knew the situation was life-threatening, and she needed to find a way out.

Picking up the kids

Cheryl felt relief that her children weren't there to see their father brandishing a knife at their mom. But the school day was ending and she was going to have to pick them up soon. Ethan knew full-well that if he let her take the drive alone she might seek help, or run. So he hopped right in the car with her.

Worst ride ever

What followed was the most uncomfortable trip of Cheryl's life. She stared out at the road in a daze while Ethan sat next to her, glaring violently at her face. She wanted to cry out to passing cars, but she knew Ethan was ready to lash out at a moment's notice. The couple arrived to the school, picked up the kids, and returned home. The kids had no idea what was unfolding, but Cheryl soon started plotting their escape.

Plotting the escape

First, she worked with what she knew: her kids were hungry after a full day at school. Cheryl saw this as her opportunity to reach out to someone outside of the home. And there was one place in particular she knew the kids loved...

Opting for pizza

Like most children, her kids loved pizza. They were regular customers at Pizza Hut, so Ethan didn't find it odd when Cheryl suggested they order their usual meal. Ethan, however, kept a close watch on Cheryl as she ordered the food, ensuring she didn't pull a fast one and call somebody for help.

The long wait begins

As Cheryl finished their order, the kids were still completely oblivious to the tension in the house. But she knew that Ethan could change that at any moment. The mother anxiously waited for the restaurant to receive her order and send a delivery driver to the house.

A strange order

Their local Pizza Hut was one of the busiest restaurants in town. But Cheryl was a regular, so the workers recognized her name. They knew to put extra care into ensuring her pizza was perfect. But then, they came to a sudden halt when they noticed something alarming on the order ticket.

An alarming message

Every ticket had an area where customers could write special requests. Usually, these wishes went along the lines of: "extra pepperoni please" or "pizza well done." But Cheryl's ticket was a little different and was something workers could not ignore. She had written, "Please help. Get 911 to me. 911hostage help."

Alerting the police

On shift was Candy Hamilton, the branch manager with 28 years of Pizza Hut experience under her belt. When shown the ticket, she didn't hesitate to act. She knew Cheryl well – and this was no prank. Immediately, she phoned the authorities and gave them the address. Hamilton only hoped she had acted before something horrific happened.

Waiting a lifetime

Cheryl's anxiety was through the roof. Would the Pizza Hut employees pay attention to the words she wrote? Would they think it was a prank? It seemed like a lifetime passed as she and Ethan sat in silence. Suddenly, a horde of police vehicles pulled up out front. Ethan hadn't spotted them yet – and Cheryl knew once he did, he might physically hurt any one of them.

Meticulous planning required

The police, having no idea what kind of situation they were walking into, couldn't just barge into the home. But, they knew there was the possibility of kids involved based on what the Pizza Hut manager told them about the family, so their tactics required extreme precision. Suddenly, Cheryl burst out of the home in a frenzy.

Fleeing the home

Cheryl flung open the front door of her home and sprinted towards the police cruisers with her youngest child in her arms. In her frenetic state, she figured the youngest of her sons was the most helpless. Since she could only take one with her, she grabbed him and fled to the officers.

No time to waste

The first officer Cheryl reached was Lt. Ludden, and he immediately knew by her demeanor that the situation the unit was about to enter was dire. He did his best to calm the mother and ask for details. Once he learned there were still two children inside along with an armed man on drugs, he took immediate action. There was absolutely no time to spare.

Talking down Ethan

Fortunately, Lt. Ludden had been in similar situations many times throughout his career. He knew exactly how to deal with circumstances that required de-escalating in order to avoid a potentially lethal outcome. Cheryl stood by with a horrified look on her face as police spoke with Ethan. Then, 20 minutes later, a miracle happened.

Best possible outcome

Ethan not only put down the knife he was swinging around recklessly, but he actually walked out to the police units and gave himself up. It was the best possible outcome for everyone involved. Cheryl and her kids, although quite shaken by everything, were finally safe. The incredible series of events was soon picked up by the news. Ethan's face was quickly plastered all over the news, and Candy Hamilton of Pizza Hut was recognized for her quick thinking.