“Our actions are like ships that we may watch set out to sea and not know with what cargo or when they will return to port.” – Iris Murdoch, ‘The Bell’.
Liz Woodward was on her midnight shift at the 130 Diner located in Delran, New Jersey.
Then at around 5 in the morning, she noticed two firefighters who came into the diner.
When she asked what they wanted, one of them asked for their ‘biggest’ cup of coffee.
The poor firefighters looked exhausted.
Woodward knew about the nearby fire in a warehouse in North Brunswick. It was one of the biggest headlines of the news that day.
She assumed that the two men came from their shift.
She knew they had a rough night.
“After 12 hours fighting the fire and supplying water, he hadn’t ate so I took him out for breakfast to the route 130 diner in Delran,” Tim Young posted on his Facebook account.
Tim was one of the two customers that early morning and Paul was the one who helped with the fire for 12 long hours.
He surely needed that coffee.
When they asked for the bill, the two men were surprised when they saw a note.
The note said, “Your breakfast is on me today – Thank you for all that you do; for serving others & for running into the places everyone else runs away from.”
They couldn’t believe it!
As it turns out, their waitress, Liz Woodward, heard everything, and she was so grateful for the bravery of the front-liners that she decided to take care of their bill.
The note ended with a sweet message.
Touched by the waitress’ gesture, Tim decided to post it on social media, and it went viral.
What Tim and Paul didn’t expect was that Liz, behind her generous gesture, also needed help.
And they were going to provide it.
Tim and Paul shared a GoFundMe page that Liz had started a year before. It was for her father, Steve.
Steve suffered a brain aneurysm rupture.
Sadly, this caused Steve to become quadriplegic. It made it hard for everyone in his family to transport him, especially when going to his doctor’s appointments.
They needed a custom vehicle, a wheel-chair accessible van.
When the post became viral, more people donated to the GoFundMe account.
The news also reached Mobility Ventures LLC, a renowned maker of the vehicle they wanted.
They donated an MV-1 to Steve!
As for the GoFundMe money, all of the amounts they got went to Steve’s medical expenses.
The GoFundMe page had an original goal of $17,000.
Today, it’s already reached $86,500.
Liz and her family couldn’t believe how her simple act of kindness created a chain of positive events.
For Liz, she was just thankful that there are people who would dedicate their lives to serving the country and its people.
She didn’t expect anything in return but got so much for her kindness anyway.
Learn more about this beautiful story in the video below!
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