This Florida State football player made sure a middle-schooler with autism didn’t eat lunch alone

Florida State football players visited a local school on Tuesday to meet the kids and have lunch with them. This kind of outreach is relatively standard, but something happened that was incredibly meaningful to one family. Wide receiver Travis Rudolph noticed one boy sitting alone, and decided to eat lunch with him.

Bo Paske has autism. His mother, Leah, wrote an emotional Facebook post explaining what life is like for her son, and how much it meant to see someone reach out to her boy.

”And he doesn’t seem to mind if he eats lunch alone. It’s one of my daily questions for him. Was there a time today you felt sad? Who did you eat lunch with today? Sometimes the answer is a classmate, but most days it’s nobody. Those are the days I feel sad for him, but he doesn’t seem to mind. He is a super sweet child, who always has a smile and hug for everyone he meets. A friend of mine sent this beautiful picture to me today and when I saw it with the caption “Travis Rudolph is eating lunch with your son” I replied “who is that?” He said “FSU football player”, then I had tears streaming down my face.”

All it took was one young man having the awareness to see a child eating alone and realize that’s not OK. If Rudolph’s act of kindness to make sure this boy was included has a lasting effect, then it changes a life.

Thank you, Travis Rudolph.

A few days after their meeting Bo and Travis were reunited after Florida State’s opening game. He got an awesome gift.