A special education student at Penn State has touched the hearts of thousands of Twitter users by giving an injured college athlete a batch of get-well-soon cookies.
Zack takes classes at the State College, Pennsylvania university through the Lifelink initiative, which helps special education students enter academic programs. One of those classes is a walking course for fitness.
During one of his walks, Zack got to know Torrence Brown, a defensive end on Penn State’s football team—and always says hi to every footballer he passes by, his friend Kacie Hay told BuzzFeed News.
Sweet! Zack (pictured), a special education student at Penn State, has touched the hearts of thousands of Twitter users by giving an injured college athlete get-well-soon cookies
Friends: Torrence Brown, a defensive end on Penn State’s football team, injured his knee and must now use an electric wheelchair, but got up to thank Zack for the cookies (pictured)
Torrence injured his knee on the field last month, and he now needs to use an electric wheelchair to get around campus.
With Torrence out for the season, Zack decided to give him a get-well-soon gift and opted for a batch of cookies.
Kacie’s mother baked them the following weekend, and Kacie, who is part of Zack’s walking program, was with him when he gave them to Torrence along with a handwritten note.
‘He was so excited to give the cookies and his note to Torrence,’ Kacie told the website. ‘And when he saw him he ran up to him with a huge smile.’
Torrence got up from his electric scooter to thank Zack and give him a friendly hug. Kacie took a photo of that moment and posted it on Twitter, warming the hearts of thousands of other people.
Help: Kacie Hay (left) participates in a walking program with Zack. Her mother baked the cookies that Zack ended up giving Torrence
Moment: When Zack gave Torrence the cookies, Kacie snapped pictures of Torrence hugging him to say thank you and shared it on Twitter
Grateful: Torrence in turn retweeted Kacie’s photo and said he really enjoyed the cookies Zack gave him and they made him feel ‘a lot better’
Moving: Plenty of people have chimed in to praise Zack’s initiative and say how moved they were by his act of kindness for Torrence
‘Zack found out @tbrown_19 hurt his knee and told me he wanted to get him a little get well soon gift to cheer him up. Reaction: Priceless,’ she wrote.
Her tweet has received more than 30,000 likes in just one week and has been retweeted more than 5,000 times.
Plenty of people have chimed in to praise Zack’s initiative, with one person writing: ‘The world is a good place.’
‘Sweetest thing I’ve heard in a long time!’ someone else wrote, while another message reads: ‘I’m not crying the air is just spicy.’
Torrence retweeted Kacie’s message and tipped his hat off to Zack, writing: ‘My man Zack really made my day!! Really enjoyed the cookies!! Made me feel a lot better.’
Kacie later pointed out the kind gesture is a typical example of Zack’s generous personality.’It was amazing. This is Zack’s everyday personality,’ she said. ‘He is such a sweetheart and would do anything for anybody.’