In April 2016, Brooklyn Andracke was about to turn 3 and already had a standing appointment every Thursday morning.
In Bloomington, Illinois, she would head out with her mom, Traci, on the way to daycare just as the garbage truck came by. At first she watched the vehicle, but soon she stopped caring about the truck: she wanted to see the man driving it. Delvar Dopson honked the horn, greeted her with a big smile, and continued on his route.
Traci said that if they were running late some morning, he would even drive around the neighborhood until he caught up with them so his daughter wouldn’t miss their greeting.
On April 7, the day Brooklyn turned 3, she and her mom waited outside with one of the party cupcakes to give him. When the truck turned onto their street and Traci waved to him, Dopson stopped. Brooklyn was completely speechless in front of her hero, so her mom had to speak for her and explain how much they looked forward to Thursdays.
Moved, Dopson confessed that he also looked forward to seeing them every week and hurried out of his morning meeting so he wouldn’t miss them. On the way to daycare, Brooklyn summed up the moment for her mom in one sentence: “Mommy, I’m so happy”.
The story didn’t end there and went viral soon afterward, when Traci shared the gesture on the City of Bloomington’s Facebook page. The following Thursday, as he passed by their block, Dopson surprised Brooklyn with a belated birthday gift: toys from Frozen, her favorite movie.
In response, the little girl drew him a thank-you card, which he proudly displayed inside his truck’s cab.
