Within days of an American father-son duo returning home from a road trip to the homeland of ketchup chips, dozens of Heinz bottles arrived on their doorstep.
“He had a big old smile when he saw the boxes of ketchup,” Rich Lieberman told CTV News Toronto on Wednesday, speaking about his son.
Lieberman and his 15-year-old Jacob returned to Virginia from their summer road trip to Niagara Falls, Ont., with 40 bags of Jacob’s favourite chips – ketchup – in the back of their open-air Jeep.
Soon after, nine cases of chips were shipped to their house south of the border – and the momentum didn’t stop there.
“First one we heard from was No Frills, then we heard from Lay's, then we heard from Old Dutch, and then we heard from Heinz within the course of a week,” Lieberman said.
With the bottles, Heinz sent red t-shirts with the words, “Annual Lieberman Ketchup Crew Road Trip,” printed across the chest, along with a travel tray for Jacob to dip ketchup on their drives.
The memorabilia is a testament to their father-son tradition of buckling in – at times, to their army Jeep, Gertrude – every summer. It was a year ago, while driving through Canada on the Alaska Highway, that Jacob discovered his love for ketchup chips.
“Jacob is deaf and he’s legally blind ... so he loves the sensation of the car,” Lieberman previously told CTV News Toronto.
While Jacob and his mother had a sampling party the night the cases arrived – trying out all-dressed and Filipino adobo chicken flavours – the Liebermans had no intention of making a dent in their supply.
Instead, they set their sights on donating their surplus of snacks, bringing cases to Jacob's old school, and a local elementary school with a high percentage of food insecure families.
As for the ketchup, Lieberman said he’s researching a soup kitchen that would benefit from dozens of bottles.
He encouraged corporations willing to send them products to donate directly to organizations in need.
Even after expanding his chip flavour horizons, Jacob still loves the burgundy bags best.
“He still says the Lay's ketchup chips are his favourite,” Lieberman said. “Now I think they have a sentimental value to him.”
