Writer Jenny Brown of Spotlight was on an airplane recently when she overheard a conversation that had her immediately taking action.

After she put her luggage in the overhead bin, Jenny saw a line of soldiers board the plane. She decided to start a conversation with them, and she learned that headed to Petawawa for two weeks of training, after which they would be deployed to Afghanistan. The soldiers told her a bit about their “special training,” and she was impressed that they were willing to put their lives on the line for their country.

The conversation soon ended and Jenny started reading her book. A few minutes later, a flight attendant came around offering a bagged lunch for $5. That’s when Jenny overheard something that she was not intended to hear.

“I overheard a soldier ask his buddy if he planned to buy lunch. ‘No, that seems like a lot of money for just a sack lunch. Probably wouldn’t be worth five bucks. I’ll wait till we get to base,'” she recalled.

The other soldier agreed that they should go hungry instead of spend money on the food. It was then that Jenny knew she had to do something.

“I looked around at the other soldiers. None were buying lunch,” Jenny said. “I walked to the back of the plane and handed the flight attendant a fifty dollar bill. ‘Take a lunch to all those soldiers.’ She grabbed my arms and squeezed tightly. Her eyes wet with tears. She thanked me. ‘My son was a soldier in Iraq. It’s almost like you are doing it for him.’”

Jenny never expected her act of kindness to touch the flight attendant in this way! After she handed out ten lunches to the soldiers, the flight attendant asked Jenny if she preferred chicken or beef. She proceeded to head up to first class and grab the luxury meal for free, handing it to Jenny.

After finishing her lunch, Jenny went to the back of the plane to use the restroom. A man then approached her and handed her twenty five dollars.

“I saw what you did,” he said. “I want to be part of it. Here, take this.”

When Jenny got back to her seat, the captain of the plane left the cockpit and walked up to her seat.

“I was a soldier, and I was a military pilot. Once, someone bought me a lunch. It was an act of kindness I never forgot,” he told her.

This just goes to show how one small act of kindness can touch so many lives! SHARE this story so your friends and family can see this as well!