AAA driver ‘hunts for good’ and finds ways to be thankful. Especially during Thanksgiving

Jacob Viveiros likes food and he calls himself a “foodie.”

Cooking food and eating food, he says, also forms the “love language” that he and his wife embrace in their relationship.

Earlier Thursday morning, the smitten foodies had woken up together on the most culinary of all holidays.

But a full day of food preparation, with turkey slow-cooking in the oven, was not in their plans.

That’s because Viveiros always reports to his job on the fourth Thursday of November.

For the past five years, he’s been part of the massive work force that keeps things running smoothly across Rhode Island – while everyone else celebrates the dayside hours of the Thanksgiving holiday.

People like Viveiros are everywhere, in firehouses and hospitals, driving in police cruisers, operating power plants, refueling aircraft, guarding prisons, caring for the elderly, attending to foster children.

So at 6:15 a.m. Thursday, Jasmin Viveiros cooked her husband a breakfast burrito and said goodbye.

Jacob Viveiros works on Thanksgiving Day for AAA.

He’s up early working, not basting the bird

Viveiros climbed into his 2013 SUV and drove to work.

Meanwhile, over in Warwick’s Conimicut neighborhood, 71-year-old Bob Hood was in a different frame of mind.

His Thanksgiving plans were more leisurely in nature.

Hood plays bass for the Driftwoods – the Beach Boys tribute band.

He also works with special needs students at Cumberland High School.

A music gig had kept him up late Wednesday.

On Thursday, he intended to kick back with his friends in North Providence. Perhaps, he and the band would jam a bit. He would bring some salad and wine.

For AAA workers, it’s not just dead batteries and flat tires. It’s empathy that’s important

Viveiros inspected his work vehicle at a fleet facility on River Road in East Providence.

It’s a white Ford F-150 with a cap over the bed and red AAA logos.

For many AAA members, the sight of Viveiros at the wheel, decked out in his fluorescent yellow AAA uniform, is quite welcome.

A battery specialist, Viveiros is equipped to recharge a battery or replace one that’s kaput on the fly.

His first call on Thursday came in at 7:45 a.m.

One Rhode Islander’s visit to see family in Foster for the holiday was in jeopardy.

When the man turned the key on his 2009 Toyota Camry, he heard silence. Viveiros found him at his home, just off Bald Hill Road, in Warwick, and took care of it.

Viveiros also helps people access their vehicles when they’ve locked themselves out. He replaces flat tires with spares; he handled 12 flats on a Christmas Day shift in 2019. If Viveiros can help in an emergency, he will.

He’s also a studied practitioner of interpersonal skills.

Viveiros knows that trouble with a car can sometimes lead to other much more serious trouble for a person.

“When a car isn’t starting, a lot of consequences can come from that,” as he puts it.

Take, for example, the single mother who has been late to pick up her children at school a few too many times already.

She’s already been reported to the Department of Children Youth and Families. And she’s been warned.

Then, her car battery goes haywire. It’s a scenario Viveiros can envision.

“You have to have sympathy,” he says, adding that empathy is important, too.

“You have to be the one that can be reassuring and calm to help them through this difficult time,” he says.

“You’re kind of their last hope,” he says. “It’s very fulfilling when you get that engine running. … You see that look of relief,” he says.”

Each week, Viveiros works four 10-hour days on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Viveiros has mastered ‘hunting for good’ no matter what life throws at him

He grew up in Providence, attending Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, Esek Hopkins Middle School and Hope High School, where he met Jasmin.

Each Thanksgiving, his family would grind up ingredients for turkey stuffing in an old-fashioned-looking device that mounts to the table.

It’s steel with a handle and a crank and the result is perfect stuffing, Viveiros says.

One of Viveiros’ first jobs was at Chuck E. Cheese, where he says he liked to dress up as Chuck, the mouse character.

Another job was working in a seafood department for Stop & Shop.

But Viveiros felt a calling to serve his country.

To make the grade, he had to count his calories: He says he lost about 140 pounds before he started basic training.

Viveiros served in a military police detachment within the U.S. Army’s I Corps, guarding prisoners at the military prison at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state.

He says his military training and experience taught him something.

“You hunt the good,” he says.

If a particular job throws Viveiros a challenge, he appreciates that he’s working on a sunny day.

If he’s working on a rainy day, he says he appreciates that he has great foul-weather gear that keeps him dry.

If he’s working on Thanksgiving Day, Viveiros appreciates the fact that he can help people on the holiday.

On Thursday, late in the morning, he is appreciating an extended lull in his work, which is probably related to the holiday.

He’s parked on the edge of India Point Park in Providence, waiting for his next assignment.

He says he and Jasmin and their 5-year-old daughter will celebrate Thanksgiving dinner Thursday evening with his siblings.

Also, he’s made special arrangements for some time off Saturday. He and Jasmin intend to cook their own turkey feast at home, he says.

He has a moment to take stock of his life on Thanksgiving Day. He does it in a thankful way.

Sure, he’d like to have more money in the bank. But he figures he’s doing pretty good, he says. As long as he has a full tank of gas, a roof over his family’s head and food in the fridge.

“Everything can change in an instant,” he says.

Over in Warwick, the Driftwoods’ base player has been reminded of that principle on his return from an errand.

Jacob Viveiros changes a flat tire for 71-year-old Bob Hood in the Conimicut neighborhood on Thanksgiving Day.

Hood has gone out to acquire what he needed for a three bean salad. Then, blam!

He had hit a pot-hole. His tire was flat.

“You can’t make this up,” he says when Viveiros pulls up.

Sixteen minutes later, Hood’s car is drivable again.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: AAA driver in Providence finds purpose saving other’s Thanksgiving