Wide Receiver Eats Lunch with an Autistic Child Sitting by Himself

As kind and honest as children can be, they can sometimes be cruel by accident – especially when dealing with a person with a social condition. Children often don’t know how to interact with another child if they have autism or similar conditions and often choose to ignore them all together so as not to say or do something awkward or offensive. This means that many autistic children are neglected by their peers.

Travis Rudolph might not be a peer to the boy in this story, but he certainly is a friend. Recently, Florida State University’s football team visited a public school. While there, they ate lunch in the cafeteria with the rest of the school children. Without prompting, Travis chose to sit with an autistic boy who was all alone.

When the boy’s mother found out that a football player took time out of his day to eat lunch with her child, she was ecstatic. Read her emotional response below.