A Feel Good Friday surprise for 2 Costco employees who helped a mom in distress

EastIdahoNews.com and Ashley Furniture HomeStore in Idaho Falls and Pocatello are partnering to honor people in our community for Feel Good Friday. Every week, we surprise someone deserving of special recognition.

A few weeks ago we received an email from a mother of 4 who was having a bad day. She went to Costco and ended up accidentally locking her baby in the van.

This is what she wrote to us:

I instantly started panicking. My phone was also in my diaper bag so I had no way to call anyone. I had locked my keys in the car… and my sleeping baby! I was freaking out because I didn’t know what to do. A man was returning his shopping cart and wouldn’t let me use his phone. He told me to go inside and ask for help. I told him I couldn’t leave my baby alone. He told me to send one of my kids in to ask for help and walked off.

My almost 10-year-old said she’d go get help and took off running. An employee getting carts showed up so I asked her if she could help me or call someone for me or do anything. She was so sweet and said she’d go inside and get help. She left, but within a minute my daughter was running out with two employees – Casey and a girl. The girl went back inside when they realized they couldn’t get into my van.

Casey stayed and called the cops for me. He gave them all the details. Through tears I thanked him and told him he could go back to work while I waited for the police. He did and then about five minutes later he came back out with Chad (who I think is a manager). They stayed with me and my kids the whole time while we waited for the police. When the cop came and made sure my baby wasn’t in distress (he wasn’t – he was still asleep, thank goodness!). The weather was cold enough that we weren’t worried about heat exhaustion, but I still couldn’t believe I locked my baby in the car.

The cop said the locksmith would be there within 10 minutes. Chad asked if the kids wanted to go wait inside to get out of the cold. They said no because they didn’t want to leave me or the baby. It was so sweet of him to offer though. The locksmith came and was able to help me out. Chad then asked if my kids liked pizza. I told him yes and he asked if they liked cheese or pepperoni. I told them they loved cheese but that we were ok. He told me he was going to have them make us a pizza because I didn’t need to worry about dinner. I bawled even more. Chad and Casey left and the kids and I went in to do our shopping.

As I walked in the doors Chad saw me and stopped me to say he had put the order in and it would be ready whenever we were. I thanked him again. I was so grateful for their help and his kindness to think how a disheveled mom wouldn’t want to make dinner after that. He offered us drinks and ice cream (they were out of ice cream, but the gesture was so thoughtful). I walked out of there feeling so grateful for being served in my time of need and worry. I felt so blessed and thankful for these kind gentlemen.

We decided to thank Casey and Chad for their kindness and surprised them this week while they were working at Costco! Watch the video in the player above.