'Just beautiful': Store employee's kind gesture toward teen with autism caught on camera
A grocery store employee is being lauded for letting a teen with autism help him stock shelves in a fridge.
Sid Edwards and his son Jack Ryan Edwards, 17, visited their local Rouses Market in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Sunday. Jack Ryan, who is on the autism spectrum, took notice of what one of the employees was doing: stocking shelves in a fridge.
Edwards said Jack Ryan was mesmerized by what the store employee was doing. At first, Edwards thought his son wanted orange juice.
But after getting the juice, Jack Ryan stood still, watching the employee work.
That's when the employee, identified by WAFB-TV as 20-year-old Jordan Taylor, approached Jack Ryan.
“Just the way he looked,” Taylor told . “He was looking very amazed, like one day he wished he could do it. So, I just wanted to give him the experience of doing it with me.”
"Something in the back of my mind was just, like, 'Ask if he wants to help you,'" .
Jack Ryan and Taylor teamed up to stock the shelves together for half an hour, with Taylor handing Jack Ryan the products and Jack Ryan diligently putting them in the fridge.
"It was a big deal," Edwards said of seeing his son being able to help with the task. "To me, when you go to a grocery store with an autistic kid, especially when they're young, people don't understand. They're not very accepting."
“The guy’s patience and time with Jack Ryan was just beautiful,” said Edwards. “He talked to him. He encouraged him. He worked with him.”
Edwards sent the video to his family. His daughter, Delaney Edwards Alwosaibi, posted it on Facebook on Monday. Since then, the video has received nearly 10,000 likes and more than 1,000 comments praising Taylor for the act of kindness.
Alwosaibi also set up a GoFundMe account so Taylor could go to college. More than $54,000 in donations had poured in by Thursday afternoon.
Ali Rouse Royster, a managing partner for the Rouses Markets chain, says the company has offered Jack Ryan a job and his family is considering it.
“The response was just overwhelming,” Alwosaibi said. “I think it’s because it was such a genuine moment. It’s raw. It wasn’t set up or anything. Jordan didn’t do that because he thought my dad would pull out the camera and film it. My dad just pulled out the camera to film it to send it to me and my brother.”
"He could have ignored him," Alwosaibi wrote on Facebook. "He could have made an excuse and said he couldn't allow him to help. Instead, he let him have his moment and in turn gave my family a moment we will never forget."
"I was just happy that I could make someone else happy and make their day," Jordan told WAFB.