19-05-2025
‘Face looks familiar': Doordash delivery reunites Springfield woman with former teacher
Every year for her late father's birthday Loreiny Penalo has made ordering Dominican food a tradition in his honor. This year, that tradition took on a whole other meaning when she realized her former high school science teacher, Wilmer Melendez, was at the door with her order.
'I told him like 'Hey all your work paid off as my science teacher, I went on to study at UMass and studied public health and got my master's in physician assistant studies,'' Melendez tells Boston 25 News.
Melendez retired in 2013 after more than 38 years from teaching but picked up DoorDashing to help pay for his son's engineering degree.
'He didn't put pressure on us to help out and I said 'No I will help you out' and I started doing DoorDash, even that he didn't know,' he tells Boston 25 News.
In a spirit of gratitude for their reunion, Loreiny shared the story of their encounter on TikTok and a comment to start a GoFundMe page led her to raise more than $40,000 in a week.
'My dad was very helpful while I was in college and was such a big support to me and so seeing Mr. Melendez being such a supporter to his son just was very near and special to my heart,' Penalo tells Boston 25 News.
Both Penalo and Melendez say they feel like it was a divinely guided reunion and now they feel like they are forever connected.
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