This Guy Helped Save A Life By Paying It Forward At The Tim Hortons Drive Thru

    My heart is as warm as a double-double.

    Lauren Strapagiel
    by Lauren Strapagiel

    BuzzFeed Staff

    Glen Oliver has made a habit of paying for the person behind him at Tim Hortons — it's just what he does. And that simple act may have helped save a life.

    globalnews.ca

    It all started with a letter sent to the editor of the Pickering News Advertiser. The anonymous writer said that back on July 18, they were planning to die by suicide. That is, until they got a "sign" in the Tim Hortons line.

    They pulled up to pay at a Tim Hortons drive thru when the they were told "The nice man already paid for it and he said to have a great day."

    “I wondered why someone would buy coffee for a stranger for no reason. Why me? Why today? If I was a religious sort I would take this as a sign. This random act of kindness was directed at me on this day for a purpose," they wrote to the Advertiser.

    “I decided at that moment to change my plans for the day and do something nice for someone. I ended up helping a neighbour take groceries out of her car and into the house.”

    The Advertiser published excerpts from the letter, which is how Oliver's wife saw it.

    Chris Young / The Canadian Press

    "I was lying on the couch right beside her and I could hear her sniffling at what she was reading," Oliver told BuzzFeed Canada.

    "She came over to me and said, 'Read this.' By the end of it I was sniffling too."

    They figured out by the timing, location, and wording that Oliver must've been the one to pay for the order. He's been doing the little ritual for years, always making sure the person was told to have a "great day."

    "I married the love of my life and I’ve got four great kids, so anything you can do to make someone's life a little bit better, you do it," he said. "We’re not rich but we have it all."

    He doesn't know who the anonymous writer was, but he has a message for them.

    "I’m glad you took it as a sign and decided to change your plans for the day. It makes me feel like a million bucks to feel like I had some part in that."