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Act of Kindness Lands Waffle House Waitress $16,000 College Scholarship

A viral act of kindness by 18-year-old Evoni Williams caught the attention of Texas Southern University

An act of kindness shared on social media has landed a waitress at a Texas Waffle House a $16,000 scholarship to college.

Evoni Williams, 18, of Galveston, was working a very busy shift at the Waffle House in La Marque on March 3, when an older, partially disabled customer asked for help cutting his food.

Another customer in the restaurant, Laura Wolf, noticed the man was on oxygen and struggling to breathe when he mentioned that his hands "don't work too good." She snapped a photo of Williams cutting the man's food and then shared the following post on Facebook where she said she was "thankful to have seen this act of kindness and caring."

In the following days the photo would be seen more than 102,000 times, including by some of Williams' friends who tagged her in the post.

Williams and Wolf got in touch and eventually met. Meanwhile, as the post began to go viral, officials with the City of La Marque and Texas Southern University jumped into action.

Representatives for both appeared together at a news conference Thursday at the restaurant where they each brought Williams to tears recognizing her kindness and compassion.

First, city officials shared a proclamation with Williams that March 8, 2018, was declared Evoni Williams Day. Soon after, Wendell Williams, special assistant to the president of TSU, said she was exactly the kind of student they wanted at the university and awarded her a $16,000 scholarship.

Williams, still shocked at the unfolding events and a little timid, then fielded questions about the incident from the assembled media, saying, "That's just me. It just came from the heart. I would do it any other time, not just this time."

In an interview recorded by KPRC-TV, Williams said she had food ready to deliver but stopped to cut some of the meat for the man so that he would have some thing to eat right away. After delivering food to her other customers, Williams said she went back and continued to cut the rest of the man's food.

Williams said she'd started working at the restaurant in June 2017 so that she could save money for college. When asked by the media if she'd been thinking about where she'd like to go she said, "Yes, well, not no more!"

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