When a young mother of three in Waynesville, Ohio, pulled up to the McDonald’s drive-thru window and discovered she had forgotten her purse, she burst into tears. The family, on the other hand, did not go hungry. Find out how the crying mother and her children’s meals are paid for without hesitation by the teen McDonald’s employee.
A McDonald’s employee pays for his or her family’s meal.
It was a typical day for a mother of three, transporting her children to their younger brother’s football practice and then returning home for dinner. Brittney Reed had at least one weeping and cranky 4-year-old in tow on this day, and while some days include happy faces and well-rested children, on this day she had at least one sobbing and grumpy 4-year-old in tow. So, when a second child started weeping when she informed them what she was making for supper, she opted to order McDonald’s instead.
“As I was driving home from football practice with my three kids, my 4-year-old started weeping and acting a fool,” Brittney Reed explained. “Then, when I told my 7-year-old daughter that we were eating red potatoes for dinner, she started screaming.” I threw up my hands and yelled, ‘FORGET IT!’ since she plainly wasn’t a fan. Tonight is McDonald’s!’
Unfortunately, all three children were crying by the time Reed arrived at the drive-thru window to pay. So she went to get her purse, only to discover that she’d left it at home, not expecting them to go out for dinner that night. It wasn’t simply her children who were crying now. The tearful mother apologized to the teen in the window.
“Hun, I’m really sorry,” she apologized. That order will have to be canceled. When we went to the football game tonight, I forgot my purse at home.”
His response, however, was not what she had anticipated. The teen McDonald’s employee pays the grieving mother’s bill with a card from his own wallet without pausing.
Reed said that he had already paid before she could even declare she’d go home, retrieve her purse, and return back to place a new order. And it appears that he was delighted to do so.
“No, it’s perfectly OK,” the McDonald’s employee replied, “and it’s my joy!”
According to Reed, he even tried to persuade her not to return with the money to repay him.
She was so moved that she pulled out her phone, snapped a photo, and inquired about his name.
She shared the story on Love What Matters.
Reed shared the touching story in part so that his parents would hear about it and see how kind and compassionate he is. However, it does not appear that Wyatt Jones, a McDonald’s employee, paid for the grieving mother to be recognized. By the time his parents found out about what had transpired, he hadn’t even told them…
Wyatt’s generosity toward the Reed family when the McDonald’s employee pays for their meal couldn’t have come at a more convenient time. The carload of sobbing youngsters, according to Brittney, was only a minor part of the family’s problems.
Their daughter had lately become ill, and their friends had gathered funds to pay their hotel expenses while they stayed near the hospital while their daughter was in the hospital.
“Wyatt halted me dead in my tracks. “Being on the receiving end of generosity has been BLESSED for my family,” Reed added. “Our friends recently held a fundraiser to help cover the costs of our daughter’s future hospital visit. I understand how humbling it may be to be the recipient of kindness, but this struck me differently. This young man had no idea what our ‘story’ was about, yet he felt obligated to cover our lunch that day. Simply because he was attempting to be nice, he whipped out his wallet WITHOUT HESITATION.”
That’s what inspired them to start a GoFundMe fundraising campaign for Wyatt. When they finally got in touch with his mother, they discovered he was saving for a car, so they got his mother’s permission and posted the story online. As of today, 2.8K donations ranging from $5 to $1,053 have been received! Brittney and her husband were able to make a $50,000 donation to Wyatt!
Wyatt has put the money toward a car and college savings.
Donors wished Wyatt well and sent him encouraging words.
“The Lord led me to this post, it wasn’t by chance,” one donor of the McDonald’s worker pays for a lunch story remarked. I started crying happy tears after reading it, and the Holy Spirit moved me to donate. There are good people on this planet, and I believe God says, “Give, and it will be measured back to you until you are overflowing.” After that, the donor prayed for Wyatt and his future.