Chick-Fil-A employees are known for their genuinely kind, attentive, and courteous attitudes at work. Anyone who has visited the fast food chain as experienced the warmth and cheerfulness exuded by every employee. 17-year-old Haley Bridges is one such employee, whose loving attitude extended past service to her customers and was used to bless a coworker.

Haley began working at a Chick-Fil-A in Appleton, Wisconsin this past August, which is where she met 19-year-old Hokule’a “Hoku” Taniguchi, who moved to the mid-west town from Hawaii. The two quickly became best friends and spend almost all their time together. Speaking to TODAY FOOD, Bridges shares:

“What we do most of the time is chill at whoever’s house we choose. We are very spontaneous, as well as our little close friend group we have.

Their friendship would be taken to a new depth after their annual company Christmas party in December. Taniguchi doesn’t own a car, so the teen bicycles to work, even during the harsh Wisconsin winter months. So when her friend group heard a rumor that a car would be raffled off at the party, they agreed that if any of them won the car, they would gift it to Hoku.

“The car was the only raffle where we couldn’t pool our tickets, one ticket per person,” Bridges explained.

“Our friend group and some other friends decided to all put one in for her,” said Bridges. “We were all very nervous that someone else would get chosen, but we kept our hopes up.”

When the time came for the grand prize to be raffled off, the group of friends held their breath in anticipation. When Bridges name was called, she said time seemed to stop for them all, and that’s when she and Hoku looked at each other and she saw a rare emotional side of her friend:

“Once my name was called by one of the bosses, Hoku and I looked at each other, this is when she started to cry. I’ve never seen her emotional side much. She is a very happy person and very funny and goofy as well. We looked at each other and I started to cry as well,” Bridges said

While anyone in the group gifting the car to Taniguchi would have been special, the fact that her best friend was the one who won and then blessed her friend in such a huge way made the act even more memorable. Haley felt the exact same way, saying:

“My heart felt as if it was racing and we both stood up and ran to each other. Everyone in the room felt like they were gone, it felt as if it was just us two in the moment. We hugged each other hard and cried so much. Everyone else was either crying or clapping. We all had a big group hug with everyone near us and it felt so unreal experiencing this.”

Bridges act of kindness was repaid in a big way when her aunt held a fundraiser to help Haley pay off the balance on her own car, which is what the majority of her Chick-Fil-A paychecks went towards. So now, both girls have been able to start the new year with burdens lifted, and a a deeper bond that will surely last for years to come.