SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — A San Diego Uber Eats driver trying to make some extra cash for her military family received a big tip this weekend. The mother posted her gratitude on TikTok and the reaction has gone viral.
“So, I've been struggling a lot lately,” said Eryn Ead in the video.
Through tears, you can hear the emotional toll on the 26-year-old mother that can be felt by many mothers trying to do it all right now.
“I can't work because of online schooling, my husband is a Marine so we don't have a lot extra,” said Ead.
She, her 6-year-old son, 5-year-old daughter and her U.S. Marine husband just moved from Wisconsin and don’t have local family support.
“I’ve been running my butt off to do Uber Eats to pay for my kids' sports and things they want to do that are now opening up that we really couldn’t - we couldn’t pay for. I’m trying to make ends meet to make my car payment this week,” said Ead.
The tears are not from her struggle but a reaction to someone’s act of kindness.
“I just did an Uber Eats drop off and she said 'I felt the need to give you this' she handed me...a hundred dollars,” said Ead.
In a News 8 interview, Ead said she was overcome with emotion.
“It meant everything that a stranger, not someone I knew, a stranger who knew nothing about me, felt the need to help out,” said Ead.
Since Sunday, her TikTok video has gone viral with reaching more than 136,000 views as of Wednesday.
“I'm not a huge religious person but I was asking the universe or if God is out there 'can someone give me a sign that I am doing what I need to do?' So I can keep pushing and do better,” said Ead.
She said she didn't do the post for anything in return; she doesn’t want money, she didn’t post a Cash App or a Venmo but has received some unwanted comments so she disabled them.
“It got misconstrued to your parenting skills shouldn’t be this way, your financial obligation should be this way,” said Ead. “That was disheartening, this was something that was supposed to be so pure and so genuine.”
She has moved on to her grateful self and paying it forward and spreading good vibes on TikTok.
“If anything we are going to be kind, we are going to be funny and light-hearted and that is all I want,” said Ead.
Ead said she spent the money to buy groceries for her family that night.
Ead said she only knows the delivery was for a “Chloe.” She says since Uber Eats purges its driver history weekly, she doesn’t have the woman’s address and since she is new to the area she doesn’t remember how to get there to personally thank her.
The video caption said “Chloe in La Jolla Village San Diego, CA. If you see this, I can’t thank you enough.”