Like any parent of young children, Megan Shufflebarger is used to shopping with her kids and hearing them marvel and tug at her whenever they stroll past the toy aisle.
Such was the case when Megan and her three children were shopping at Target and Megan’s youngest daughter, Kinley, was in tow with a full list of birthday requests in hand. Two-year-old Kinley stopped in front of a row of dolls and immediately locked in on a blonde one, the last of its kind on the shelf. Before Kinley could even tug at her mother to request the doll, a friendly young man bent down and asked which one was her favorite, before walking off with the doll.
Megan assured her daughter that there would be plenty of other dolls and not to be disappointed it was gone. That’s when Megan and her children got a pleasant surprise they were not expecting. The young man returned a few minutes later, took the doll out of the bag and handed it to Megan along with the receipt and wished Kinley a “very happy birthday.”
“I was speechless,” Megan told CBS News.
The mother didn’t catch the young man’s name, but was able to snap a picture of him smiling with her ecstatic daughter after thanking him for the gesture of kindness.
Megan shared the photo and story of the kind, mysterious stranger on Facebook with friends, asking if anybody recognized the smiling teen who had made her and her daughter so happy. The post quickly went viral, racking up thousands of shares.
It didn’t take long for somebody to recognize the teen’s friendly face and he was identified as Purdue University freshman and football player, Tario Fuller II. Once identified, the grateful mother thanked Tario for the kindness he had shown two strangers and that it proved “hope is in fact not lost in society as a whole.”
“This one act of kindness has likely generated thousands of smiles, softened many hearts and inspired others,” she said. “That in and of itself makes my heart full and happy.”
The Purdue University athletic department caught wind of their player’s act of kindness as well, and shared the photo in a Facebook post saying, “We couldn’t be more proud of the type of young men and women in our athletics department. #BoilerUp.”
The mother says Kinley didn’t leave her new doll since it was gifted to her. Tario’s act of kindness will undoubtedly not be forgotten by the mother of three, and Megan added that her hope is that “this will inspire and humble others to pay it forward more often.”