Unlikely Friends: Publix Worker, FL Girl Reunite After COVID-19 Pandemic Kept Them Apart

FORT MYERS, FL — A 6-year-old Fort Myers girl reunited with her friend, a Publix employee, Tuesday for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago.

The worker, Gilnet Sainvil, connected with Fiona Smith and her family when she was just a baby. Even when she couldn’t speak, he taught her how to give a high-five, becoming affectionately known as “High Five” to the girl.

Now, the kindness he’s shown Fiona over the years has inspired her mother to start a new nonprofit, Who’s Your High Five? Through the organization, Rachel Smith plans to collect stories from people about those who made an impact in their or their children’s lives.

“It’s this ripple effect that (Sainvil) has created. We want to know who is someone really formidable, who’s had a positive impact on your life,” said Smith. “We want to uplift people.”

Growing up in Fort Myers, Smith spent much of her life shopping at the same Publix. Even as an adult, she’d meet her parents there every Saturday at 9 a.m.

“It was an organic way to see them,” she said. “Reliably, every Saturday, I’d see them for a while. We’d do our grocery shopping, and we’d go home.”

She developed a relationship with many of the store’s employees, as well.

“I don’t know what kind of magic they have, but pretty much every Publix cultivates this pretty cool community of employees that are generally compassionate,” Smith said.

When she became pregnant with Fiona and after the girl was born, the employees were “overjoyed” for her family, she said. “Gilnet was just especially emphatic. I think because he has daughters…He was always happy to see (Fiona), always gave her a huge smile.”

As she became more mobile, he’d teach her how to give a high five, moving her hands into the right position.

“Then, one day, it just happened,” Smith said. “She got it. It was like, ‘Here’s what it means what an adult puts his hand in front of you. You take your hand and do this. I don’t know why. It’s just a thing we do.’”

Even before Fiona could speak, she would recognize Sainvil. Then, as she learned to speak, every time she noticed they were pulling into the Publix parking lot, she’d chant, “High Five, High Five,” and run right to the produce section, where he worked.

“I tried bringing her to a different Publix once. It was almost like a crime to her,” said Smith. “She was like, ‘This is not my store. It does not have my people in it. It does not have my ‘High Five.’”

Sainvil lived in the same neighborhood as her parents. Having seen them out working in their yard a few times, in 2019, for Fiona’s third birthday, he dropped off a gift for the girl, a large, wrapped box.

“It wasn’t assembled. It was in a box. When she opened it on her birthday and saw it was a bicycle, she was overjoyed,” her mother said. “It was her first bicycle. She helped put it together and got to ride it around immediately.”

They took pictures of her on the bike that she delivered to Sainvil at Publix by hand.

Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and Fiona stopped going to the grocery store with her family to “mitigate exposure,” Smith said. “There were a lot of confusion about how contagion worked and what was prudent and what was safe and what wasn’t. She didn’t have to be a part of the trip to Publix and probably shouldn’t have been.”

For two years, Fiona stayed away from Publix and other stores and wasn’t able to see her friend – until Tuesday.

During the pandemic, Sainvil was transferred to another Publix, one in Cape Coral. In recent weeks, Smith tracked him down and brought her daughter to see him for the first time in years.

Their reunion was overwhelming, she said, and Fiona still remembered “High Five.” In fact, when she learned she would be seeing her old friend days before the trip to Publix, it was all she could talk about.

“Every time we got in the car it was, ‘Is now the time?’” her mother said. “We were taking her out on a boat. I thought she’d be excited to be going out on a boat, but she asked, ‘Are we going to see him?’”

A few days before their visit to Sainvil’s new Publix, she shared an old video of the pair on TikTok. Unexpectedly, it went viral, gaining more than 9.3 million views and more than 1.6 million likes.

A content strategist and social media data analyst, Smith wasn’t surprised that the video caught on. Every time she posts any video to social media, she tries to post something positive.

“I only post videos that make me happy in case it catches fire. I want to make people smile. That’s all I want to do,” she said. “What if I get 10,000 views? I get 10,000 smiles.”

She was excited to share with Sainvil that his friendship with her daughter was inspiring TikTok users around the world.

“The beauty of how he treated her is he never wanted any reciprocity. He wanted to make her smile and make her feel loved,” she said.

To thank him for this kindness, she’s raising money through GoFundMe to offer him a financial gift. She’s raised nearly $6,000 as of Wednesday afternoon.

“I'd love to give something tangible back to him for the unquantifiable joy he's given my daughter her whole life,” she wrote on the GoFundMe page.

The comments on her videos of the two are what inspired her new nonprofit, Who’s Your High Five? Many people have commented about those who impacted their lives positively as children and Smith wants to connect more of these stories and spread them far and wide.

She expects that more than the monetary gift, Sainvil will appreciate that his friendship with Fiona is inspiring others.

“I can’t wait to tell him, ‘People are moved by your kindness, and you have impacted all of them,’” she said.