( CNN ) -- In times of despair , a good meal goes a long way . The week of April 15 brought two horrific events : The Boston Marathon bombings and the West , Texas , fertilizer plant explosion . In each city , health care workers jumped into action to help victims of the tragedies . In between trying to save lives , these doctors and nurses somehow found the time to support their colleagues across the country . What started as a single act of kindness turned into a culinary exchange that shows just how inspiring `` paying it forward '' can be . In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon blasts , Nancy James , a registered nurse at the medical intensive care unit at Carolinas HealthCare System in Charlotte , North Carolina , wanted nurses in Boston to know that the nurses at her hospital were thinking about them . During the pre-shift morning huddle on April 20 , she asked if anyone would be willing to chip in a couple of dollars to order food for Massachusetts General Hospital 's medical intensive care unit . The response was larger than she expected : $ 126 , which she used to have pizza delivered to the Boston health care workers . `` I think doing things like this is important , '' Blake said . `` In this day and age , we 've forgotten how to be kind to other people ... and take care of each other . '' In runners ' tent and ER , a rush to save limbs , and lives . Unbeknown to her , the Mass General emergency department staff had already sent an edible gift of their own . On April 18 , Dr. Christopher Kabrhel had pizza delivered to the emergency department of Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center in Waco , Texas , which was treating patients from the deadly explosion the day before that damaged homes in a five-block area in nearby West . With the pizza came a note : `` Thanks for all of your hard work . From one member of the E.R . family . ... '' `` It was an absolute surprise , '' said David Argueta , vice president of operations at Hillcrest . `` Our ED ( emergency department ) obviously was blown away . '' Attempts by CNN to reach Kabrhel for comment were unsuccessful . After the Mass General ICU staff received their pizzas from North Carolina , they also reached out to Hillcrest , sending lunch and dinner to the Texas hospital 's ICU on April 21 . A lot of nurses at Hillcrest were personally affected by the explosion and had relatives who were injured or lost their homes , so gestures such as this gift `` really show the human spirit , '' Argueta said . The chain of support did n't stop there . Enter Trace Arnold , also known as `` the Rib Whisperer . '' He runs a mobile barbecue restaurant called the Ultimate Smoker and Grill , and a stationary establishment called 3 Stacks Smoke & Tap House in Frisco , Texas . After the explosion in West , Arnold and his team served three meals a day for three days , feeding more than 5,000 victims and relief workers . Boston amputee victims urged to 'slay the monster ' with recovery . `` I just decided , you know what , let 's go help , '' Arnold said . One of the volunteers in West was Jill Barton , whose husband works at Hillcrest as a surgeon . She told Arnold about the pizzas that had been sent from the Mass General emergency department team to Hillcrest . Arnold decided to help Texas return the favor . At 4 a.m. Tuesday , Arnold got on a plane to bring barbecue to more than 200 emergency department personnel at Mass General . Delta Air Lines allowed Arnold and his team to fly to Boston for free with 50 racks of ribs and 15 briskets . Several staff members at Mass General wore cowboy boots for the occasion . A few had tears in their eyes as they dug in , Arnold said . `` It was unbelievable , '' he said . `` We were tired -- we cooked for three days straight , 18 hours a day . I was tired and I was just feeding people . I knew these doctors had been working countless hours . ... They had n't been eating and had n't been sleeping . '' Arnold gave Kabrhel a Texas flag that had traveled the country on Arnold 's mobile smoker . The barbecue ambassadors also brought with them a large green Hillcrest hospital flag , signed by as many as 500 staff members who wrote encouraging messages on it . While the Boston health care team enjoyed their barbecue , their counterparts at Hillcrest Skyped with them , Argueta said . The next day Hillcrest received a lithograph of Mass General , which is now displayed in the administrative area of the emergency department . `` You share a common bond , especially in such a trying time , '' Argueta said . `` The whole situation has been extremely therapeutic , I think on both sides , and just so uplifting . '' Arnold will continue to pay it forward . He 's convinced his corporate sponsors , such as Pepsi Co. and Frito Lay , to deliver food every week for the next month to emergency workers in West . `` In this crazy world that we live in nowadays ... it just seems right , '' he said . `` We 're all just doing our duty as people , as human beings . '' Bombings destroy dancer 's foot , but not her spirit .
A doctor from a Boston hospital sends pizza to a Texas emergency department . `` The Rib Whisperer '' hops a plane and supplies barbecue for Boston hospital staff . In the early 1980s, when I was in college, my father had an office job at a major New York law firm.