Heartwarming Story of How Firefighters Repaid a Waitress' Act of Kindness

— -- One act of kindness led to another in New Jersey when a waitress' decision to pay for some firefighters' breakfast prompted strangers to help her.

Two firefighters stopped in a diner after an overnight shift containing a warehouse fire earlier this week and had breakfast at the Route 130 Diner in Delran, according to ABC News affiliate WPVI.

A waitress, Liz Woodward, overheard the firefighters, Tim Young and and Paul Higgins, talking about the fire. That's when she decided to pay them back for their efforts, according to WPVI.

She wrote a note on the back of the check -- complete with drawn fireman's helmet and ax.

Young then shared a photo of the check, along with a call for his friends to visit the diner, and to "tip big" if they ever had Woodward as a waitress.

He didn't stop there. He wrote another post highlighting a GoFundMe campaign that Woodward had started in December to pay for a wheelchair accessible van for her father.

"Turns out, the young lady who gave us a free meal is really the one that could use the help..." Young wrote.

Since then, Young and 185 other people -- mostly strangers who had heard about her decision to pay for the firefighters' meal -- have donated.

The GoFundMe page was originally hoping to raise $17,000 -- and has now collected more than $38,000.

Woodward posted a lengthy message on her own Facebook account, praising the work of firefighters and asking others to pay it forward.

"Look for those opportunities because they are everywhere. You can make a difference -- it doesn't always have to be an elaborate production or effort- it's always the little things that have the greatest impact," she wrote.