When natural disasters hit and the power goes out, it’s always important to check on your loved ones, especially elderly folks living alone. But when all other methods of contact failed to reach one Florida woman after Hurricane Matthew, her out-of-state family had to turn to an unexpected source of aid: pizza.

The 87-year-old woman lives alone, so when Hurricane Matthew hit last week, her family — living across three states — grew extremely worried when they hadn’t heard from her for two days, ABC News reports [warning: link contains video that autoplays].

Her grandson in Nebraska said he spoke to her on Friday right after the power went out, and then was unable to reach her.

“I was calling the police department, I was calling the sheriff’s department, and no one was answering, so I was really worried,” he told ABC.

After asking himself who he could call in a city where he knew no one, he had a burst of inspiration on Sunday, and decided to enlist a Papa John’s in Palm Coast to check on grandma.

“So I just said, ‘I’m going to order her a pizza, and if they can deliver it, then I know she’s alive,'” he recalls.

He added special instructions to the order, asking the delivery person to kindly give him a ring when the pizza was successfully delivered, and to give his cellphone to the woman so he could talk to her and make sure everything was okay.

When that call came, he said he felt “relief, absolute relief,” joking, “Police and fire couldn’t do it, but Papa John’s got there in 30 minutes and put the cellphone to her ear.”

The pepperoni pizza was “fantastic,” she says, and very much appreciated.

“(My grandson said) ‘Grandma, I haven’t talked to you in two days. I got worried about you. You must be hungry by now,” she told WFTV.

The delivery guy says that the look on the woman’s face when he showed up was better than any tip he’s ever received.

“Her expression was just priceless. It was like, ‘Wow!'” he told the station.

Surprisingly enough, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard of pizza coming to the rescue — heck, it’s not even the second time:

• In 2011, a Domino’s delivery driver saved the life of a regular customer when she realized she’d suddenly stopped calling. She went to check on her and called 9-1-1 when she got no response, and police found she’d fallen a few days earlier and couldn’t reach the phone.

• Then just last May, Domino’s workers came to the rescue of a customer after noticing he hadn’t been sending in his regular orders. When a delivery driver was sent to check on him, he saw that the lights were on and heard the TV, but no one answered the door and the phone went straight to voicemail. He called for help, and when paramedics arrived, they found the customer lying on the ground in his house. It’s believed he had a stroke, but it’s not clear when he was affected.

Pizza. Bringing comfort and relief since the invention of pizza.

Family Sends Pizza Deliveryman to Check on Grandma After Hurricane [ABC news]
Driver: Her face was ‘priceless’ when man has pizza delivered to check on grandma after hurricane [WFTV]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.