June 6, 2014 -- It only takes one person to start an epic pay-it-forward line that can affect many others. One woman initiated a pay-it-forward chain in the drive-thru at a Florida Chick-fil-A outlet stretched for 38 cars and eventually came full circle back to the originator.

Cherie Miller randomly started the chain reaction May 19, opting to pay for the food in the car behind her.

“She asked to pay it forward and we’ve had that happen before, but never have we had it go that far,” Carmen Fisher, the local Chick-fil-A marketing director, said. “It was incredible that people just kept going. And some people were paying for meals more than their meals cost.”

Fisher said her Temple Terrace, Florida, employees were keeping her notified of what was going on when they excitedly informed her that Miller was back in line as the 18th car in the chain.

“I said to ask her if it would be all right with her if we took a picture with her, because everybody needs to hear a little bit of good news,” she said. “We wanted to thank her for doing it and thank everyone who did it after.”

Miller had forgotten her son’s chicken nuggets and returned to find her action still in effect.

“She said, ‘You know what, I have to do this again, and she kept the thread going and did it again and after that another 20 cars did it,” Fisher said. “By the time it was over, 38 cars had paid it forward showing kindness to each other. The power of a single act of kindness was just very real to us.”