A video showing a young woman’s act of kindness towards a stranger has gone viral just days after it was posted online, and has prompted an outpouring of support from people worldwide.
13-year-old Te Riina Takamore was at the Gate Pa New World in Tauranga on Wednesday when she approached a young father shopping with his toddler and offered to pay for his groceries.
“I’d like to pay for your groceries today,” Te Riina says to the stranger.
The recipient, named Matt, seems a little shocked by the gesture but responds saying: “Thank you! Are you sure? Really?”
Te Riina approached Matt as he was putting his groceries through the checkout. Photo: Facebook
The New Zealand Herald reports the idea to pay it forward was sparked after the girl’s parents themselves had been gifted an iphone 6 they’d intended on purchasing for their daughter’s birthday.
Te Riina’s mother Vicki Takamore wrote on a post to Facebook that she’d initially paid for the phone but after handing over the cash to the seller, the seller returned it to her saying she wanted her to take the phone as a gift for her daughter.
She says that person’s act of generosity moved her to do the same for someone else.
Takamore says her daughter made the suggestion the family do an random act of kindness someone else, and a decision was made to go to the supermarket.
After filming the touching moment Te Riina paid for the young father’s groceries, Takamore uploaded the video to Facebook on Wednesday.
It was captioned “Pay it forward” and has since been viewed more than 430,000 times.
Takamore says there has been a huge outpouring of support since the video was posted on online, with online messages from people as far away as France, Canada and the USA.
“There are still caring people in the world,” wrote one commenter.
Another wrote: “Inspired I will do this too. Thank you for reminding me what is important.”
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