Waffle House Server’s Kind Act Wins Hearts — And $16K Scholarship

LA MARQUE, TX — An 18-year-old server at a Texas Waffle House who went out of her way to be kind to an elderly customer is getting rewards she never expected. In a flurry of media stories, Evoni “Nini” Williams said she didn't do anything special when she helped "Mr. Karoake" — that's what customers at the La Marque restaurant call Adrien Charpentier — when he told her his hands weren't working well and he needed help to cut his meat.

As Williams cheerfully obliged, another customer, Laura Wolf, snapped a photo and posted it on her Facebook page, writing:

“Without hesitation, she took his plate and began cutting up his ham. This may seem small but to him, I'm sure it was huge.

“I'm thankful to have seen this act of kindness and caring at the start of my day while everything in this world seems so negative. If we could all be like this waitress & take time to offer a helping hand …”

Wolf’s original post has received hundreds of thousands of interactions and shares, but Williams says she only did what her heart told her to do. Those interactions don't count those on others who have picked up the post, including the Random Acts of Kindness Facebook page, and written about.

“I was never raised to bash people,” she told KTRK-TV. “I was raised to help people, to give and receive blessings.”

To KHOU-TV, she said: “It’s something I would do any other day.”

In other words, it was no big deal.

Except that it was.

And about those rewards that come from acting selflessly:

Not only was March 8 officially proclaimed Evoni “Nini” Williams Day by the mayor and city council of La Marque in a ceremony at Waffle House, Texas Southern University gave her a $16,000 scholarship. Williams is working full-time to raise money for college — a worry that’s been taken off the table now.

Her gesture meant the world to Charpentier.

“My hands are not up to par. If I want to cut my meat, I look like I'm stabbing it," he told the TV station.

And it meant a lot to Wolf, too.

“It was so busy in here, and she actually took the time to stop and hear what he had to say instead of walking past him,” Wolf told KHOU. “That just meant something to me.”

The city of La Marque summed up the sentiments of many with these simple words on its Facebook page:

“Kindness is free, folks. We are proud!”

Here’s video from the press conference where the proclamation was read and the scholarship was announced:

Photo via Shutterstock