Beloved Snoqualmie UPS driver inspires others to pay it forward

Community members gathered on Thursday to honor their favorite UPS driver

SNOQUALMIE, Wash. - Imagine taking the time out of your busy day just to show appreciation for someone else. That’s what nearly two dozen people in Snoqualmie did on Thursday.

Snoqualmie residents came with signs and stories about a man they know as Nabou.

"I love to golf and he’ll ask me how my tournaments go," said 12-year-old Carter Pass said.

"You see him coming and you’re like ‘Oh, he’s here," Arlene Cormier said.

They look out for Nabou, excited when they see him walking up to their door.

"He has the biggest smile," Cormier said.

That smile was visible when the UPS driver showed up on his daily route, greeted with cheers like a local celebrity.

You quickly start to understand why people were compelled to show up.

Nabou gives out fist bumps to the kids and hugs to the grown-ups. A man loud in his gesture.

"You rock, baby I love that," Marika Nabou said.

It’s all about the way he makes people feel: He recognized a couple in the crowd moving to Oregon, he knows the neighborhood dogs by name and rarely forgets a face.

"Where are the two girls selling lemonade?" Nabou asked

He’s talking about the girls he met recently. Mom Amanda Peters said Nabou stopped out of his way at their lemonade stand.

"Got out, super friendly," Peters said.

He paid the girls $5 instead of the 50 cents they were charging.

"After that, they gave away free lemonade to others to pay it forward, just like Nabou inspired them," Peters said.

It left such an impression that Peters posted the experience on social media.

"In minutes, hours, it was evident this community loved him, hundreds and hundreds, we may have gotten 1000 comments," Peters said.

That’s why Peters organized the appreciation party for Nabou, someone she only met that one time.

"The fact that he remembered that moment, it meant something to him as much to us," Peters said.

When Q13 News tried to make Nabou the center of attention, he deflected it back on the community.

"It’s about them, I am here for them," Nabou said.

He says he feels the energy of others.