Trader Joe's Employee Surprises Family with Key Lime Pie. A Week Later, They Show Up to Her Job with Gift (Exclusive)

On Saturday, July 6, Jeff Greene was shopping at Trader Joe's with his family when a worker gifted them a pie

Jeff Greene was strolling through Trader Joe's with his wife, son, daughter Sophie, and her boyfriend on Saturday, July 6, searching for desserts. They stumbled upon a box of key lime pie that caught their interest.

After a short exchange about the sweet treat with a nearby employee named Tara, Jeff tells PEOPLE he placed the pie in his cart and headed to the checkout.

But at the checkout, Tara surprised Jeff with a touching gesture.

"She handed me a box of key lime pie with a receipt taped to the top," he tells PEOPLE exclusively. "She had bought me a key lime pie herself and took the one I was about to purchase out of my cart. It was such a lovely and unexpected gesture."

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Grateful, the family thanked Tara as they left the store in Wayne, New Jersey. Inspired to pay it forward, Jeff decided to bake a key lime pie himself for Tara.

A week later, Jeff and his wife gathered in the kitchen to bake the pie. Once finished, accompanied by their son, they returned to Trader Joe's.

"I thought it could potentially be a really positive thing to do," Jeff says. "Especially given everything going on in the world, a small act of kindness and humanity goes a long way."

On the way to the store, Jeff's son Cooper filmed a video explaining their mission. When they arrived, they waited for Tara near the freezer section, capturing the moment on camera.

"When she came out, she immediately recognized us," Jeff recalls. "She seemed genuinely touched. Tears started flowing. She kept saying how much it meant to her at that moment."

"We hugged," Jeff adds. "My wife, my son and I hugged her. Unfortunately, we didn't get her last name."

Later, Jeff shared the heartwarming videos with Sophie, who posted them on TikTok. The video quickly gained over 420,000 views, with many comments praising the family and sharing similar stories of employees going above and beyond for customers.

"There were so many positive responses," Sophie says. "People recognizing the store and sharing their own experiences of kindness."

Though they haven't heard directly from Tara since, Jeff hopes their gesture brought her joy and highlighted the impact of simple acts of kindness in today's world.

"It's important to remember that not everybody is nameless or faceless when you go into stores," Jeff says. "The simple gesture of baking someone a pie can have a significant impact. Tara was clearly touched by it, and that made me feel good that we did something like that. Her kindness in return, though not expected, was deeply appreciated."

"The next step is actually trying the boxed key lime pie," Jeff jokes. "I haven't even tried it yet. Then we need to go back to Trader Joe's and let Tara know what we thought of it."

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Read the original article on People.