kindness
A chef offered a ride. He bought her lunch too.
She figured she'd walk home. He had a better idea.
Andrew Griffin, a chef at Deep Run Roadhouse in Henrico, Virginia, was recognized this month for a Sunday afternoon detour that started with a closed door. The barbecue restaurant was preparing to open a new location when a regular customer, an elderly woman known as Miss Duke, arrived around noon with a local senior transportation group. The place wasn't open yet. Told as much, she said she supposed she would walk home. Griffin offered her a ride instead. On the way to the van, he found himself thinking about his own grandmother and what her later years might have looked like. "She probably didn't have food in her refrigerator," Griffin recalled thinking. So he took Miss Duke to a nearby restaurant for lunch before driving her home. A local news team later surprised him with its Acts of Kindness Award, $300, and a gift card. "I couldn't be more proud of you," owner Paul Hubbard told him.