Teenager's act of kindness for woman in Starbucks goes viral

‘What you did for me was more than just a coffee’

(Getty Images)

Last week a 19-year-old student from Ohio carried out an act of kindness by buying a coffee for a stranger in Starbucks.

While this may have seemed like a very small deed for the teenager, Mackenzie Mauller, at the time, she had no idea how much of an impact her actions had on the recipient of the coffee until she received a heartfelt note in her mailbox.

As it turned out, the woman for whom she’d bought a coffee was actually a neighbour who’d recently fallen upon hard times, as she revealed in the letter.

“Thank you for the coffee! I rarely go to Starbucks and treat myself, but the last couple of months have been a bit of a struggle,” read the note, which Mauller shared on Twitter.

The woman, Nicole Clawson, explained that her father had recently passed away and that he’d usually look after her children while she went to work.

On that particular day, Clawson’s babysitter had cancelled and she’d been forced to take the day off work as a result.

“I decided to buy my kids breakfast and get myself coffee with total guilt because I am going to be a stay-at-home mom for a while,” she wrote.

Clawson broke down in tears after discovering that Mauller had offered to pay for her coffee.

She later happened to find out where Mauller lived, as she spotted her pulling into her home a few houses away from her own abode.

“I felt it necessary for you to know that what you did for me was more than just a coffee,” she expressed in the note.

“It was something that has turned my whole day around, put tears in my eyes and a smile on my face and I feel so grateful. Thank you.”

The interaction between Mauller and Clawson has touched the hearts of thousands of people on Twitter, with the tweet garnering 20,000 retweets and 81,000 likes.

However, the story doesn’t end there, as the pair then began conversing in the comments below.

Mauller responded to Clawson with a handwritten card and offered to babysit her children.

Clawson stated that Mauller’s act of kindness had inspired her children to follow in her footsteps and show compassion for others in their day-to-day lives.

“By the way, my children have been aware and a part of all of this since the beginning,” Clawson tweeted.

“This has been such a great learning opportunity for them, on how to treat others, no matter what.

“They are excited to pay it forward, and treat others with kindness and selflessness."