A Smile On Hy-Vee Truck

I've always wondered about those folks smiling from the side of a Hy-Vee truck. Kind of like the people Walmart used to picture in the Sunday newspaper fliers with first names only and a job title.

So, when Lisa Gibney e-mailed me to say her son, Jimmy Gibney of Cedar Rapids, was pictured on the side of a Hy-Vee truck, I had to check it out. (See today's Ramblin' column in The Gazette.)

Jimmy, 26, had established being on the side of a Hy-Vee truck as one of his life's goals. It's a special honor for only the best employees of the large grocery store chain. And Jimmy, who was adopted from Mexico and apparently suffered a brain injury before that, had already become an Eagle Scout and won a swim letter at Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids.

"His 500 megawatt smile and can-do attitude have taken him far despite the limits of having a brain injury," Lisa wrote. "He really is a young man worth celebrating and Hy-Vee deserves recognition for all their support. They always stand by him through his good days and tough days and we would love to get them some recognition also."

Lisa, who grew up in Des Moines and lived in Cedar Rapids for 25 years when she worked in emergency preparedness at the Duane Arnold Energy Center, moved to Rockville, Md., in 2006 to work for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. She wouldn't have taken the job if Jimmy hadn't had such a wide community -- a "village" she called it -- for support. To list them all would be impossible, but the folks at Hy-Vee, Linn County Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, Linhaven and Kennedy High School know who they are.

I arranged to meet with Jimmy through Connie Heidemann, the human resources manager at the Hy-Vee store on Wilson Avenue in Cedar Rapids where Jimmy is the parking lot attendant in charge of the shopping carts.

Right away I could tell Jimmy deserved to be on that truck. He shook my hand. He smiled. He sat there nervously twisting his hands together. He anwered every question politely. He loved giving a thumbs up when he agreed with something.

Apparently, Hy-Vee goes through a nomination and screening process to see who will be pictured on the trucks. When officials showed up at the Wilson Avenue Hy-Vee to check out Jimmy, they almost thought it was a put-on. He seemed too friendly, too outgoing, too up on the longtime slogan of "A helpful smile in every aisle."

Soon, they realized Jimmy was genuine. Customers called him by name. He remembered some of their names. He would stop collecting carts in the parking lot to help women load groceries into their cars. He never stopped smiling.

What a thrill to met Jimmy Gibney. Nobody deserves to be on a Hy-Vee truck more than he does.