Meet Anthony, Edmonton's newest delivery man

There's a new delivery service in Edmonton, and it's called "Anthony At Your Service."

The delivery man is 24 year old Anthony Barrett, who has autism. Anthony is a part-time student at NorQuest College and his mother, Deborah Barrett wanted Anthony to do more with his days. She thought he could get a job and started brainstorming ideas that would suit him. After throwing around a number of options she thought to herself, 'what does Anthony really like to do?'

"He loves driving around, he loves listening to music, he loves seeing new places, but his attention span is very short. Anthony's idea of checking out something new is, you come in, you circle around as far as you can go and then you leave," Deborah explains.

With the help of Anthony's aide, Mikey Hamm, the idea of a delivery service came about.

"It's the kind of job that will get him to make new friends and meet new people," says Hamm.

Their business concept is simple- they'll go anywhere in Edmonton and deliver anything that fits in a car- that Anthony can carry. It was how to get the business started that was a bit tricky.

Hamm says Anthony has trouble making a good first impression, so he decided to put together a video to introduce potential customers to Anthony.

"Saying hi and making eye contact and all the things that we would do to make a good first impression, Anthony doesn't have as much of a handle on. But what Anthony does have a handle on is just being a likeable person," says Hamm adding, "I work with Anthony 40 plus hours a week so I see all these cool little things he does and funny moments and I wanted people to see that Anthony."

The video was posted on YouTube a week ago and now has nearly 14,000 hits. Anthony At Your Service also has dozens of new clients.

"The response has been just tremendous," Deborah says adding, "(People) want to get behind this young man even though he has a disability. They're not shying away, they're saying go for it, do this."

The support isn't just coming from Edmontonians, it's coming from people around the globe.

"I had a woman in Ohio email us and ask if she could order pizzas from a shop in Edmonton and have us deliver them to someone else in Edmonton as a gift," says Hamm.

Those who have already used Anthony's business say they were very impressed by the service and will continue to hire him.

"We just really liked his story and he was such a happy person. Who wouldn't want a person like that working with them?" says Leanne Milne, who works at Brown & Hone Orthodontic Labs.

Deborah says autism shouldn't hold Anthony back from giving back and doing the things he's passionate about and is happy to see the support behind him.

"It's a new idea, for people to think of a person with a significant intellectual disability and perceptive disability to actually have their own little business," she says adding, "The Edmonton community is open to that. If there's a positive energy going out from a person with a disability, I think there's going to be a positive response."

For more information on Anthony's business, visit his website.