Root River Diary | An Extraordinary Kindness

LANESBORO — It’s such an ordinary sight, especially these days.

A large delivery truck, emblazoned with familiar logos like UPS, Fed Ex or Amazon Prime, pulls up to a house. A nameless, usually faceless delivery driver jumps out carrying a box or two, hustles towards the front door, zaps a bar code, turns and quickly rushes back, then drives off.

Very familiar. Very ordinary. Almost invisible, in fact.

Explain this sight then, if you can. A group of more than 100 people gathered on a blustery June afternoon in a vacant downtown lot in their southeastern Minnesota rural town. Barely more than 700 people live here (An equivalent statistical showing in New York City would have brought out more than 1.2 million people). 

Why are they all here? To say goodbye to their UPS delivery driver. 

Extraordinary.

All these people, a mix of ages and backgrounds—soccer moms, retired farmers in overalls, store merchants, a few kiddos in strollers, even a dog or two (not always a delivery guy’s favorite audience)—have come together to say goodbye to Josh Merchlewitz. Reassigned to another route after seven years by his “superiors” (the quotes are intentional), this was Josh’s last day in town.

People wanted to say goodbye and thanks, to wish him well, to offer one last handshake, and a gift basket filled with local goodies. And hugs. Many hugs, sweetened by tears.

Our local fire truck and ambulance, lights flashing, sirens blaring, gave Josh’s truck an escort as he drove out of town. I will say it again. Extraordinary.

Lanesboro Mayor Alicia Pearson extended the town’s thanks to Josh. “You will definitely be missed by everyone,” she said. (Photo by Sue Harris)

Why did this happen exactly? A number of stories, eagerly shared, answer the question.

“Josh delivered a package to our house last Christmas, a surprise present for my husband, Joe.  The box had torn open on one side and you could see what was inside. Josh didn’t want my surprise to be ruined. He came to the front door, motioned to me, then distracted Joe so he wouldn’t see his gift. It worked. Josh came to the rescue.”

“We’ve seen him carry heavy boxes up long driveways–especially those big bags of dog food. He knocks gently so as not to wake a sleeping baby. He helps elderly neighbors bring in their parcels, remembers names, asks about our well-being, and always makes time for a kind word when someone needs it most. Josh doesn’t wear a cap, but he carries the spirit of a true hero.”

“Josh was driving to his next delivery when he noticed a cell phone lying in the street. He stopped, picked it up and recognized the screen-saver photo as the wife of a local customer. The phone had fallen off her husband’s golf cart. A few phone calls later the phone was returned and all was right with the world. Thanks, Josh.”

“On a cold, winter day Josh was delivering bouquets of roses to our funeral home for a service to be held the next day. No one was there to take the delivery; leaving them on the doorstep overnight in freezing weather would ruin them. Josh called a customer, found someone to take care of the roses until the funeral. Hundreds of dollars were saved; more importantly, a gift of love and remembrance was given.”

What are we talking about here? Good customer service? Yes, but more than that. Going the extra mile? Obviously. 

At its core, we’re talking about, and looking at, simple acts of kindness. A man doing more than just a job. A caring man acting kind.

As one “customer” put it: “Josh doesn’t just deliver packages — he delivers peace of mind, a warm smile, and a rare sense of trust.” 

Ask him why he does all this and his answer is simple: “I really love my job and the people I meet.”

We live in a world running desperately low on kindness. When we see the real thing and experience it, we like it. We admire it. We’re inspired to be kind ourselves.

Josh did that for us in our little town. We needed to thank him. Even deeper, we needed to affirm the lasting and ascending value of kindness.

That’s why we were all downtown that day.

One face in our family-crowd went home and even wrote a poem about it…

  what shall we call it . . .

Josh’s family was in on the surprise. His wife Shannon (left) and daughter Autumn joined the Lanesboro sendoff. (Photo by Sue Harris)

what shall we call it when we catch

 a scent of goodness passing by?

when a group of people recognizes

 the power of true kindness?

when joy is in the air because we

  know the secret to happiness?

the secret, as we have been told 

 many times, is giving to others

we look around to see if it is true

and when we find it, we wonder – – –

 why are we surprised?

 why are we astonished?

 why are we so touched?

 why do we feel so alive? 

what shall we call it?

we call him Josh, and we all smile

  © Diane Knight, June 2025

Hear others’ comments and Josh’s appreciation to the community in this “Heartfelt Sendoff” report from KTTC-TV.