A police officer and new dad stopped into the Lamp Post Diner in Gloucester, New Jersey back in February of 2019 and left behind something valuable.

In fact, when his waitress, 23-year-old Courtney English saw it, she could hardly believe her eyes.

At the time, English was 7 months pregnant with her first child.

She served the Voorhees Township police officer just a salad and a glass of water during the lunch rush. His total was a mere $8.75.

The surprise came when she went to clear the table and found that the man had left her a generous gift. He had tipped her $100!

The officer chose to remain anonymous but the restaurant owner knew him – and knew why he made the gesture.

“He recently just had his first child so he was a little emotional and saying that was the greatest day of his life and it’s gonna change her life,” Nick Hionas told ABC 7 News.

He also left a note on the receipt that read: “Enjoy ur 1st. You will never forget it.”

She was stunned – and touched by the act of kindness. But at first, she didn’t believe it could be true.

“I thought it was a mistake, I didn’t think that that was right. But I asked the hostess like four different times, ‘Is that right?’ and she confirmed it was and she showed me the receipt,” English recalled to ABC 7. “I started crying. This doesn’t happen. It was really genuine, it was really nice.”

The story of the kind diner went viral when English’s father, Brian Cadigan, posted a photo of the receipt to Facebook, where it has now been liked over 11,000 times.

Cadigan wrote, in part:

“What a wonderful person to not only leave a VERY generous tip, but a lovely message, I don’t know you Mr Police Officer, but you made my little girl cry, and made her year. Thank you, I always had the utmost respect for Officers, but you went above and beyond not just an officer, but a beautiful human being.”

After the story spread far and wide on social media, calls began coming into the restaurant from other people who wanted to help English out.

Restaurant manager Victor Sierra said people had been phoning in from all over the country.

“They wanna know if they can help her because it’s the first child. It’s the gesture about somebody helping somebody else,” he told ABC 7.

English told CBS Philly that she was planning to work a few more weeks until the end of March and that she normally makes about $100 a night in tips. The good samaritan’s gift was going to help immensely.

She told CBS that “it really means a lot. It’s been really hard saving for the past couple months, so it was really, really amazing.”

It also gave her new respect for men in uniform.

“I respect all officers, so I mean it just gives me a higher respect for them and their job. So it was just really awesome,” English said.

The soon-t0-be-mom told the news she was having a girl, due on April 1. Like most first-borns, Kayleigh Ann arrived a few days late, on April 6th, weighing 6lbs 11 ounces and measuring 19 1/2 inches.

And, of course, she’s a beauty.

Be sure to scroll down below to see English describe her shock at the officer’s good deed.

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Source: CBS Philly via YouTube, ABC 7 News, Brian Cadigan via Facebook