On a cold and rainy Sunday afternoon, John Flemming, a regular customer at the Homer Glen Jewel, turned cart collector John LaRoy into a Facebook sensation.
Flemming, who stops at the supermarket several times a week and often chats with the 55-year-old employee, said on Jan. 21, as LaRoy helped him load groceries into his car, he asked if he could take the dedicated worker’s picture and put it on Facebook.
At first LaRoy said no, but a few minutes later, posed with a big smile.
“John does great work. He’s so friendly and so helpful,” Flemming said. “He drops whatever he’s doing to help you.”
So, when Flemming got home that day, he posted LaRoy’s photo on Facebook’s Homer Glen Village Square community page with the headline, “Hardest working man in Homer Glen.”
Then, Flemming said, “things went crazy.”
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Within hours there were 1,500 “likes” and a bunch of comments on it.
“And not one was negative,” Flemming said.
“I always knew John (LaRoy) was a great guy but I didn’t know the whole town of Homer Glen felt the same way,” Flemming said.
Tara Williams saw the post and the many compliments. She took to heart the suggestions that everyone pitch in some money so that LaRoy could “do something nice.
“Then I just decided to pull the trigger and set up a GoFundMe page,” Williams said.
Two days later, more than $2,500 had been collected. Over the weekend, the fund jumped to more than $4,000.
“Everybody just wants to support him because he’s supported us for so long,” she said.
Williams met LaRoy when she moved to the southwest suburb from Merrionette Park about a year and a half ago.
“I was pregnant. I had a big belly,” said the mother of three. One of the first stops she made in town was the Jewel at 143rd and Bell Road.
“I’m walking out with my cart full of food and crossing the (parking area) where the stop sign was and all of a sudden I hear, ‘Ma’am, ma’am,’ and I see this man running from the other side of the parking lot toward me. He said, ‘I will help you take that to your car.’ And he did. He said, ‘You get in the front seat and just relax; I’ll unload your cart and take it away.’ I was like ‘Holy Cow, I’m not used to this kind of service.'”
Now, every time she visits the store, LaRoy gets a cart for her and wipes it down before she puts her infant son inside.
“John is so friendly. He always says ‘hello,’ always says ‘it’s so nice to see the pretty ladies.’ He always unloads my cart,” she said.
Back home, Williams said, “We always talk about him in my family. But we didn’t realize the whole town talks about him, too. Everybody goes home and talks about John LaRoy in the same way.”
During a chat inside Starbuck’s Coffee Shop at the Jewel Friday, LaRoy described his job with sincerity.
“I go outside, get all the carts off the lots, get the papers out of the carts and do whatever they want me to do. I like to talk to people. I like to offer carry out service. If they don’t need it, I just go on my way,” he said.
“I love it very much. It’s important to help customers out,” LaRoy said.
Though he doesn’t have a Facebook page, LaRoy said his brother Mark LaRoy told him about Flemming’s post and the GoFundMe campaign.
“I’m very happy about it. I am kind of famous now. It makes me feel good inside, makes me feel like I’m doing the right thing,” he said, fighting back tears.
“I feel good when I get compliments. I get a lot because I try hard,” he said.
Tony Phillips, director of the Homer Glen Jewel-Osco store, said, “John is a great asset to our store. I tell him that everyday, that I don’t know what I would do without him here.”
In retail, Phillips said, the most important thing is taking care of the customer.
“It’s making sure customers understand how much we value them and value them coming to us. Because, bottom line, without our customers, we don’t need to be here. It’s all about the customer,” she said. “John understands that.”
LaRoy often chats with shoppers about his love for the White Sox and the Blackhawks, Phillips said. “But he will never become a Cubs fan, even with all their fame. He’s stayed a loyal Sox fan. He’s also loyal to Jewel. He helps out in any way I ask.”
Mark LaRoy, of Orland Park, said his brother graduated from Shepard High School in 1982 and attended Sertoma Job Training Center in Blue Island until 1985. After his father and stepmother moved to Skokie, John LaRoy attended Shore Training Center until 1990.
In 1991, Mark LaRoy said, “John was placed at an Omni store (up north) and within one year he was named employee of the year for all the Dominck’s and Omni stores.”
Though he received a cash award, Mark LaRoy said, he was most excited about being able to sit next to Dominick, the founder of the store chain, during the awards ceremony.
“He never told my dad about the check. That’s how John is,” Mark LaRoy said. “It’s never about the money. He just loves his job and he’s completely loyal to it.”
LaRoy takes an Uber to work from his home in Palos Park because his 88-year-old father, with whom he lives, can no longer drive.
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Mark LaRoy said his brother is “the full time caregiver for our dad. He does the cooking, the cleaning. Everything.”
Before that, Mark LaRoy said, John helped take care of his stepmother until she passed.
“John is a special person,” Mark LaRoy said. “My brother always said, ‘the people love me’ and I was always like ‘yeah, OK,’ but it’s really true.
“I am awestruck by this outpouring. I always believed he was a valuable employee but this is just amazing the way the community has come together,” he said.
With some cash headed his way, Mark LaRoy said, “Anyone else would say, ‘I need a vacation,’ but my brother seems to get stronger by helping others. I call him a saint on Earth.”
LaRoy said he doesn’t have any plans to spend the money from the fundraiser. “I’ll put it in the bank — just in case,” he said.
In recognition of the community praise, the Homer Glen Jewel on Saturday held a party for LaRoy. Cake was handed out and LaRoy received more gifts.
Mark LaRoy said his younger brother was “completely overwhelmed, but in his style and true to himself, the minute the party was over he went back out to the lot and gathered the carts.”
Twitter @dvickroy