UPS Delivers Ultimate Christmas Surprise: Returned Soldier
This package brought much joy to a military family.
— -- Carolyn Morrison can officially attest to the fact that good things come in small packages.
Morrison and her son Ryan were enjoying Christmas breakfast with her family when UPS rang the doorbell.
“UPS came in with a box and said that there was another box outside and asked us to come outside,” Carolyn told ABC News. “When we went outside, it was my husband.”
Carolyn’s husband, Corporal Matthew Morrison, had been stationed in Qatar for five months when he saw an opportunity to come home for the holidays.
“I had a leave that was granted for a couple days, and we were thinking of a way to surprise Carolyn and Ryan without it leaking,” Matthew, 25, told ABC News. “My mother- and sister-in-law knew somebody at UPS and said it would be cool to drop you off.”
The idea worked perfectly with UPS’ “Your Wishes Delivered” program, which spreads goodwill during the holiday season granting wishes such as a nurse who wanted flowers to decorate the nursing home she worked at or sponsoring rescue dogs to become service dogs for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
This time, the UPS goodwill bought Matthew a flight home for Christmas. UPS delivery man Tim “Jonesy” Jones picked Matthew up at the airport and took him home, where he persuaded Carolyn and her son to come outside.
“When the UPS man came I was thinking, ‘Wait a minute,’ but my son had no idea at all,” Carolyn said. “I can’t even explain it. It was completely overwhelming.”
Matthew will be home for the next few days, visiting with his family and getting a valuable opportunity to spend time with his wife, who found out she was pregnant just one week after Matthew deployed.
“That made it a lot more difficult. I hadn’t seen Ryan since June and five months for Carolyn. But it felt like a lifetime,” he said. “It means everything to me. Obviously I would love to be there with my brothers and sisters overseas, but to be home and have the opportunity to be with your family at Christmastime is absolutely everything in the world to you.”
UPS is still granting wishes through December 31 and donating $1 to either the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the Salvation Army or the Toys for Tots Literacy Program for every time the hashtag #WishesDelivered is used, which has been thousands of times so far.
“It’s such a busy time for us, and so we’ve been sharing these wishes not only with the public but also internally. It’s a motivator for our people as they’re working so diligently in December and they can share in the goodwill, too,” UPS spokeswoman Susan Rosenberg told ABC News. “You might not see Corporal Morrison when he’s reunited, but we’ve been able to capture some of these moments on film and tell the stories and share the goodwill.”