Blue River’s Viral UPS Driver Means More To The Community Than The Packages He Delivers

Source: KPIC.com

By Olivia Young

LANE COUNTY, Ore. — An update on a heart-warming story we brought you last week.

We’re learning more about the trending video of a UPS driver making snow angels with a woman’s dog in Blue River.

That UPS driver’s name is Ron, and he has been well known to the McKenzie community for years.

But this past year the pandemic, and the Holiday Farm Fire, made his services all the more essential.

Now after that community has lost so much, he’s finding little ways to brighten their days.

Here’s the story of how that video came about.

“He has been doing our route for like 13 years,” said Tracey Chalette, a Blue River resident.

Ron Alexander has long been beloved by the people of Blue River.

“I just have a really great connection with my people up there,” Alexander said. “I call them my people, they think of me as part of the community.”

When the Holiday Farm Fire devastated that rural town, his job became all the more critical.

“We really provided a service for them that they wouldn’t have been able to get the things that they needed.”

These days, Ron delivers more than just packages.

“I’m trying to connect with them,” Alexander said. “Everybody’s a little bit different.”

That’s why Ron stopped to play in the Blue River snow on one of his daily routes back in January

“I had a wild hair and there was this virgin snow in the driveway,” Alexander said. “I thought ‘I’m gonna make a snow angel!’ And Hope’s gonna go crazy and she did.”

“And then our dog ran out there and started jumping on him and said I gotta get this camera,” Chalette said.

Tracey shared the now-famous video on the UPS Dogs Facebook page. The response?

“Just overwhelmingly positive,” Chalette said. “People just loved it. They said it made their day they’ve watched it over and over again.”

The video has almost 10,000 views, and while Ron says the people of the Blue River are the real heroes, they say he’s the one keeping an eye on them.

“Ron has just been such a blessing to so many people,” Chalette said. “I think it’s just encouraged people’s hearts you know, to have him all these years but particularly right now.”

While Ron lives in Eugene, he says he’s made connections up the McKenzie that he hopes will last a lifetime. He’s even talked about moving up there with his wife.

When he retires, he says it will be hard to give his route to someone else, but he plans to keep those connections alive.

© 2021 Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.