Earlier this month, a new unofficial record was set for the youngest UPS driver in the world. His name is Mateo Toscano, and he’s only six years old—and yes, his story is the kind that can maybe bring out the onion-cutting ninjas.
Mateo has been battling leukemia most of his life, but it was never as bad as it was last year when health restrictions meant he could no longer go outside. So, he would spend most of his time looking out the window, waiting for the UPS delivery man to arrive at his and his neighbors’ door. One day, Mateo informed his mother that he wanted to be a UPS driver himself.
A couple of weeks ago, Make-A-Wish made that possible for him in a partnership with UPS and a local store. For an entire day, Mateo delivered packages in Stockton, California, in his very own tiny UPS truck (electric, of course), which he had been taught to drive earlier that day. He even got a tiny UPS uniform and got to meet some of the people who had made his life easier during the lockdown: other UPS drivers.
According to Good Morning America (video below), Mateo got to live out his dream for an entire day, from the training at the track to taking a lunch break with the rest of the drivers and delivering packages to city officials, local police, and residents. He was accompanied in his tiny truck by UPS driver Dave Cundary. Mateo’s day ended with him delivering Mother’s Day gifts to his own mom and grandmother.
“I like to deliver packages to the mail and drive my little UPS truck, my very, very own,” a clearly psyched Mateo tells the media outlet. “I really liked it. It was so cool. I was busy as a bee.”
Mateo’s schedule was nothing compared to what full-time UPS drivers had to deal with during the lockdown, which shall forever be known as that dark time when, because we couldn’t go outside the house, we’d stay online, ordering stuff we didn’t need. But it was a chance for him to live out his dream, and that’s all that matters.
A couple of weeks ago, Make-A-Wish made that possible for him in a partnership with UPS and a local store. For an entire day, Mateo delivered packages in Stockton, California, in his very own tiny UPS truck (electric, of course), which he had been taught to drive earlier that day. He even got a tiny UPS uniform and got to meet some of the people who had made his life easier during the lockdown: other UPS drivers.
According to Good Morning America (video below), Mateo got to live out his dream for an entire day, from the training at the track to taking a lunch break with the rest of the drivers and delivering packages to city officials, local police, and residents. He was accompanied in his tiny truck by UPS driver Dave Cundary. Mateo’s day ended with him delivering Mother’s Day gifts to his own mom and grandmother.
“I like to deliver packages to the mail and drive my little UPS truck, my very, very own,” a clearly psyched Mateo tells the media outlet. “I really liked it. It was so cool. I was busy as a bee.”
Mateo’s schedule was nothing compared to what full-time UPS drivers had to deal with during the lockdown, which shall forever be known as that dark time when, because we couldn’t go outside the house, we’d stay online, ordering stuff we didn’t need. But it was a chance for him to live out his dream, and that’s all that matters.