Liz Woodward - A Tale of Kindness Returned #AtoZChallenge

Firefighters Tim Young and Paul Hullings were exhausted when they stepped into the 130 Diner in Delran for breakfast at 6 am. They had been fighting a horrible fire for a mammoth 12 hours. When the time came to pay the bill though, they were in for a surprise.

The young waitress who had served them had overheard their conversations and chose to pay their bill for them, leaving a sweet message on their check instead - “Your breakfast is on me today – Thank you for all that you do; for serving others and running into the places everyone runs away from. No matter what your role, you are courageous, brave and strong. Thank you for being bold and badass everyday.”

The food bill that went viral

Touched, the two firefighters shared her kind deed on social media where it quickly went viral. And that was when they found out the true story of the beautiful waitress who had paid for them.

24 year old Liz Woodward had been struggling to make ends meet for the last few years after her father suffered a brain aneurysm that left him paraplegic. Having struggled to make her house wheelchair-ready for her father, she was devastated when it was foreclosed and they had to move into a smaller accommodation, leaving her father unable to travel outside at all and unable to see beyond his bedroom window.

Determined to help the woman who had showed such kindness to them even though she was suffering, Tim and Paul set up a fundraising campaign to get $10,000 (Rs 6.5 lakhs) for a wheelchair accessible van for her father. The donations however did not stop pouring in and when the campaign finally ended, the firefighters had raised $86,500 (Rs 56 lakhs) for Liz and her father.

Firefighters Tim Young and Paul Hullings with Liz Woodward and her family

The best was yet to come. Having heard of her kind deed, Mobility Ventures - the company that made these specialized vans - refused to take the money and gave the Woodward family the van for free as a Christmas gift.

Liz's life was changed forever over the course of that year. And it all started with a single act of kindness towards two strangers who walked into  her diner early one morning.


Liz Woodward, Tim Young and Paul Hullings would also appear on Ellen where all 3 would get surprise gifts.

Author's note:

This is part of my #AtoZChallenge where I will be focusing on Real Life Heroes of Kindness and Compassion.

The list for this year's (2018) Heroes of Kindness can be found here.

Of course, I have been tracking these lovely human beings for years now and have found children as young as six years old and old women in their eighties from across the world who will restore your faith in humanity. You can find the entire list of Real-life Heroes of Kindness and Compassion here.