Grocery Store Employee’s Small Act of Kindness Goes Viral

— -- This photo is proof that a small act of kindness can certainly go a long way.

As Keith Kiel was doing his grocery aisle rounds in the local Publix supermarket last week, he never expected to come across something so innocent yet so poignant at the same time.

“I was shopping in the meat department and I looked out of my right eye and I see this kid crouching down and tying this sweet old man’s shoe,” Kiel, 64, of Ormond Beach, Florida, told ABC News. “I said to myself, ‘Aw that’s neat. Let me take a picture of this.’”

The touching gesture between the Publix employee, named Gage Boucher, and the older gentlemen, happened so quickly, Kiel was afraid he had actually missed the shot. He didn’t though, snapping the photo just in the nick of time.

“When I saw it I immediately thought, ‘I’m going to put this on Facebook and I might get 100 likes,’” said Kiel. “I’ve never hit 100 likes on anything, but I figured people would resonate with this.”

He was right and then some.

Since August 9, the photo has received nearly 200,000 likes and has been shared more than 15,000 times.

“We like to see that in our employees,” media and community relations manager, Dwaine Stevens, said. “This young man did a great job with that. We’re very proud of him.”

“I saw him struggling to tie his shoe, so of course I offered to help him out,” said Boucher, 20. “Stuff like this happens every day and people don’t get recognized for it. This one just happened to get recognized.”