167 McDonald's customers pay it forward to others in drive thru

SCOTTSBURG, Ind. — More than 100 customers at a McDonald’s drive-thru in Scottsburg, Indiana, generously paid for the meals of the drivers behind them Sunday.

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WDRB reported that the act began with a regular visitor. ABC News reported that her meal was about $6.

“(The customer) saw a dad in the van behind her,” Hunter Hostetler, an employee at the McDonald’s location, told WDRB. “He had, like, four kids in the car. He had a bunch of happy meals, two Quarter Pounders, a Big Mac meal and some other stuff. She was like, ‘I'm going to pay for the father behind me, and I want you to tell him Happy Father's Day.’”

The father’s order was $36.

In turn, that father paid for the order in the two cars behind him, and from 8:30 to midnight, 167 cars total continued to pay it forward.

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“It was very heartwarming,” Hostetler, 19, told ABC News. “The last customer who came through even asked if there was another car and I said, ‘Ma’am, I’m sorry, you’re our last customer for the night. We’re closing.’”

ABC News reported that some customers were a few dollars short when paying it forward, but Hostetler and his co-worker, Jessica Wells, chipped in to pay the difference.

Hostetler noted that many customers paid it forward without regard for the cost of the orders behind them.

Frank Ward, the owner of the McDonald’s location, responded to what he called an “act of kindness” with a statement to ABC News: “McDonald’s believes in supporting the local communities in which we operate. I was proud to experience the Scottsburg community come together in this act of kindness under the Golden Arches.”

Cox Media Group