It was a day like any other for Barbara. She did the same as she did every morning – drove to Dutch Bros. Drive-thru in Vancouver to pick up her morning coffee. But something was not quite right that day.
The queue took an incredibly long time and her turn took forever to come. The driver in front of her wasn’t moving an inch. She noted that the employees at the window talking to the woman were suddenly joined by two more staff.
When it was finally her turn, she finally understood why it had taken so long – and it moved her deeply….
The reason all the staff gathered in the window was because of something the woman in the car had recently gone through.
When Barbara arrived to make her order, she asked what was going on. Here’s how she later described the incident on Facebook.
“Snapped this picture while waiting in line at the Dutch Bros on 138th Avenue today.”
“Turns out the young lady in line ahead of us lost her 37-year-old husband last night.”
There are many prejudices that teenagers are lazy and that they only think about themselves. Sure there are plenty of examples of irresponsible teens and some media often stereotype teenagers as being delinquent, rebellious criminals.
But these the young employees at the coffee shop wanted to support the woman and showed that there is plenty of empathy in young people.
”When the DB guys & gals noticed she was falling apart, they stopped everything and prayed with her for several minutes, invited her to come back for prayer and support, as well as anything else that she might need.
One of the teenagers, Evan Freeman, later explained what happened. Apparently, Evan understood that something was terribly wrong when handing over orders.
“And she was like no, she’s just having a really bad day. Her husband passed, and as soon as she said that, I was like there’s nothing more you need to say. We got this. We’re gonna do what we do every time we get someone who’s in pain or hurt. We’re gonna give them our love.” – Evan Freeman.
Back in 2016, when the picture of the heartwarming gesture went viral, a lot of people wanted to know more about the teenagers who comforted the grieving lady. Even though their names became known to the public, the teenage boys kept a low profile and stayed humbled.
Instead of bragging about themselves, Evan and his colleagues only hoped that their actions would inspire others to be kind.
It’s hard not to be moved by this beautiful story which took place at an ordinary fast-food restaurant’s drive-thru. Although her husband is never coming back, it touched me to read about the warmth and compassion that the staff showed a complete stranger.
It’s pretty easy to choose not to look at the people around us who need our help. But that would be a shame because the person in need might be a colleague, a family member, or a complete stranger on the street. And all the person might need is a smile, a shoulder to cry on, or a bite to eat.
Remember, no one can do everything, but everyone can do something.
If this hit you in the chest as it did to me, feel free to share the story for even more people to be touched.
