East Windsor Man Named A TIME Magazine Hero Of 2020

EAST WINDSOR, NJ — Meet TIME Magazine's Heroes of 2020. The illustrious class of this year like no other includes Australian firefighters who risked everything as the nation burned, pastors who transformed their church to provide for those in need during the pandemic, and Greg.

When Greg Dailey isn't working at Frames On Main in Chatham or delivering newspapers near his home in East Windsor, he's often delivering groceries for people confined to their homes because of the coronavirus. Dailey's most recent accolade humbles him, but he also laughs about it.

"It’s kind of surreal. Five people or groups were named TIME 2020 Heroes of the Year, and I’m one of them?" he told Patch. "Right next to the firefighters from Australia? I never looked at it as this really magnanimous thing that I’m doing."

Dailey doesn't have much time on his hands. He wakes up at 4 a.m. to deliver newspapers. He drives an hour to work at Frames On Main — a custom picture-framing store he owns. Following his hour-long commute home, he gets to shopping for people homebound.

It started mid-March, after Dailey delivered a paper to Phyllis Ross's West Windsor home. The 88-year-old — terrified of catching the coronavirus — asked if Dailey could throw the paper closer to her door.

Dailey happily obliged. Then he went to the grocery store, and he wondered how someone like Ross could shop for groceries during the pandemic. He called Ross on a whim and asked if she needed anything. She did, and she asked if Dailey could pick up food for her neighbor too.

Days later, Dailey left a note with the newspapers for all 800 houses on his route. He started receiving calls before he even got home.

"I try to put myself in an 85, 90-year-old’s shoes," he said. "You’ve kind of lived to get to this moment of your life, and now you’re just stuck in your house for this extended period of time and really feel helpless and vulnerable."

At one point, Dailey and his family spent 12 hours a day picking up groceries. They've since aided more than 140 homes through over 1,000 grocery runs around Mercer County.

Through that time, Dailey has developed close relationships with many on his paper route. He's eaten dinner with his customers, taken them to doctors and had long conversations in their homes and via phone.

"As one person put it, they would hear my car fly by in the morning, deliver the newspapers and that was the extent of my relationship," Dailey said. " ... There were no real relationships other than just paperboy and customer. But that has changed considerably."

He also knows what some of the people on his route endure. Dailey and his son delivered groceries Sunday evening for two people on the same road.

In the first home, nobody answered the doorbell. Then they heard jostling on the other side of the door. A man with Alzheimer's tried opening the door on the inside for 15 minutes, but he forgot how. His wife finally returned Dailey's call so he could bring them their groceries.

Across the street, a man with a broken neck laid asleep on the couch. The man's wife tried writing a check to pay for the groceries. But it took her three attempts, because she's legally blind.

"I said to my son that this is why I do this," Dailey said, "because what would they do? What are their options?"

Even with the coronavirus restrictions in place, Dailey feels so much freer than the people he serves. Dailey can leave home when he pleases. He can drive to work each day. And the 51-year-old can go to the supermarket without worrying too much about himself.

Dailey knows firsthand the risks some carry during this pandemic. His mother — on dialysis for seven years — died two weeks ago from COVID-19.

"I think she probably was (careful)," Dailey said. "But if you go to dialysis three days a week, there’s a chance you’re going to catch it."

It feels strange to Dailey. He spent months trying to protect at-risk people from COVID-19, and then someone close to him died from the virus.

But that doesn't stop Dailey. He still awakes at 4 a.m. for his paper route. The East Windsor man also estimates he's worked his day job for more than 20 days straight.

As New Jersey's second coronavirus wave has picked up, so have the requests for groceries. Dailey and family shopped every other day as cases reduced, but he's back to retrieving groceries each day with his free moments.

Somehow along the way, media with far greater reach than East Windsor Patch got word of his endeavors. He's been on The Drew Barrymore Show, in national newspapers and on CNN and other major networks.

That's not why Dailey does this though. He says he's a private person. However, he does get something out of this.

"It helps me just as much as I’m helping them," he said. "It fills my heart and makes me feel like I’m doing something, accomplishing something really, really big for these people."