Oregon woman describes how tearful elderly couple asked her to help them buy groceries because they were too scared of coronavirus to enter store
- A woman helped an elderly couple from Oregon to get groceries after they were too scared to get out of their car
- Rebecca Mehra, 25, was handed a $100 bill by the couple for her to buy supplies
- The couple are in their 80s and heard the coronavirus was affecting older people
- Mehra’s tweets have since gone viral on social media after the chance encounter
- Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
A woman ended up helping an elderly couple get their groceries after being overcome by fear that they could become infected by the coronavirus.
Rebecca Mehra, 25, ended up tweeting about her experience after helping the couple in Bend, Oregon who were parked in their car outside Safeway Supermarket in the town.
Mehra tweeted about her actions on Wednesday afternoon. A story which has since been retweeted more then 100,000 times.
Rebecca Mehra, 25, was handed a $100 bill by an elderly couple for her to buy groceries
Rebecca Mehra, 25, helped an elderly couple from Oregon to get groceries after they were too scared to get out of their car and then tweeted about her experience
Mehra’s tweets have since gone viral on social media after the chance encounter
‘I went to the grocery store this afternoon. As I was walking in I heard a woman yell to me from her car. I walked over and found an elderly woman and her husband. She cracked her window open a bit more, and explained to me nearly in tears that they are afraid to go in the store,’ Mehra wrote.
‘Afraid to get sick as they are in their 80’s and hear that the novel coronavirus is affecting older people disproportionately. And that they don’t have family around to help them out. Through the crack in the window she handed me a $100 bill and a grocery list, and asked if I would be willing to buy her groceries.
Mehra took the money and list, which had basic necessities on it.
‘Everyone’s looking for toilet paper. It was crazy, actually, being in Safeway yesterday,’ Mehra said to the Bend Bulletin. ‘There was nothing in the cleaning section. There was no hand soap. There was no toilet paper.’
After her story went viral, Mehra said, ‘It was the first time I thought about how much this is really affecting my community.’
‘I bought the groceries and placed them in her trunk, and gave her back the change. She told me she had been sitting in the car for nearly 45 min before I had arrived, waiting to ask the right person for help,’ Mehra continued.
‘I know it’s a time of hysteria and nerves, but offer to help anyone you can. Not everyone has people to turn to,’ she said.
‘I did feel a sense of confusion and nerves in the store, but also a sense of … we’re all in this. We all have to take care of each other,’ Mehra told the Bulletin.
‘It was the first time I thought about how much this is really affecting my community,’ Mehra said to CBS News.
She says she wishes she had asked for the couple’s names.
Mehra is a professional runner and works part-time as an assistant to Bend mayor Sally Russell
‘It just felt like a no brainer thing to do in the moment,’ she said. ‘It seems like it’s inspired thousands of people hopefully to check in on their neighbors, check in on their grandparents, and their parents.’
Mehra is a professional runner and works part-time as an assistant to Bend mayor Sally Russell.
‘The cool thing about what she did yesterday is that’s just who she is,’ Russell said to the Bulletin. ‘I just hope our entire community, and our entire world, steps up the way Rebecca did. It’s heartfelt, generous acts like this that make our community special, and also that will get us through this really difficult moment in time.’
‘Overwhelmed by the positive response. Over 11 million of you have seen my story and counting. Thank you to everyone who has shared it,’ Mehra said in a follow-up tweet. ‘Frankly most people I know would have done the same thing I did. I was just in the right place at the right time.’