102 People Pay Kindness Forward At Dunkin’ In Barnegat

BARNEGAT, NJ — What began as a random act of kindness from someone paying for another person's coffee at the Dunkin’ drive-thru in Barnegat motivated over 100 people to continue the pay it forward chain on Sunday morning.

One hundred and two cars maintained the streak at the store on Lighthouse Drive, according to employee Luke Hart, who rang up each customer at the drive-thru window.

The pay it forward chain started around 10 a.m. and progressed through noon until Hart signed off for his break.

As each customer rolled up to the window, Hart told them the cost of their food and drinks were covered courtesy of the customer before them and the acts of kindness continued to multiply.

“It’s never gotten this long. It usually gets around five or six cars, and it ends,” said Hart, who has worked at the store for a year. “The fact that it got all the way up to 102 cars was pretty crazy.”

The excitement grew as the number of people paying it forward inched closer to 100, leaving both Hart and customers astonished.

“They (customers) were definitely as surprised as we were,” Hart said. “We had people that had three dollar orders that were paying for 20 dollar orders behind them. It was nice to see that there are still those nice people out in the world.”

Keep up to date with what's happening in your community by subscribing to your local Patch newsletter here.