Random acts of kindness

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/07/2012 (4859 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Thanks to ‘angels in steel-toed boots’

I always read the Random Acts of Kindness section of the Saturday paper and marvel at the kindness of people. Recently, we were the recipients of one such act.

My husband and I, in our mid 70s, were driving with another couple (a little younger than we are), to Winnipeg from Kenora for medical appointments.

Just before we got to the floodway bridge, we got a flat tire. It was the first time we had a flat tire in ages. Changing tires just isn’t as easy as it used to be.

As traffic zoomed by, the guys managed to jack the car up, and remove the lug nuts. When they tried to remove the wheel, it wouldn’t budge.

At that moment, a half-ton truck pulled up behind us. Two young men jumped out and asked if we needed help. Within minutes they had kicked off the tire and replaced it with the spare using their own equipment. They conveniently happened to have all the right tools.

When my husband offered them a monetary thank you they totally refused, wished us a good day, and left.

These two angels in steel-toed boots from Focal Point Home Improvement saved our day and we can’t thank them enough. By the way, we got to our appointments on time.

— M.A. Poirier

The very picture of kindness

I had purchased a painting from a store on Regent Avenue, but it was too large to fit into my car.

The sales clerk suggested I fasten it to the roof of my vehicle (at my own risk). We tied the painting through the windows, over and over. It felt very stable and secure.

I drove off quite slowly and was about a kilometre away from the store when I heard a snap and saw the bindings flapping in the breeze. I pulled onto a side street hoping that somehow the painting was still hanging on, but it was gone. I went back down the street expecting to see it in the middle of the busy road totally demolished.

There it was on the grass boulevard, perfectly intact, the paper wrapping not even torn. But now, how do I get it home? As I struggled to try to fit it into my car every which way (as if a miracle would happen and my car would somehow expand,) along came a young couple in a van and without even asking where I lived said they would take it home for me.

They were at a restaurant across the street and had been watching. Even when I told them I lived at the other end of the city, they just said they would follow me. I couldn’t believe my good luck that these two wonderfully kind strangers offered to help me out of this predicament so unselfishly.

So, thank you again, Christina and Delmar. You are angels.

— Stephanie Battistuzzi

Notes on windshield show kindness

OUR car was sideswiped in the parking lot of the McPhillips Street Walmart while we were in the store.

We’d like to thank Joanne for the note she left on our windshield and also Mary for leaving another note on our windshield, giving us the licence number and phone number, which was advertised on the side of the van, of the man who hit us and then moved away to park elsewhere.

Both of them got involved in a situation that many people would ignore, and we thank them for their diligence.

Although this will sound bizarre, we also want to thank Manny, the actual owner of the vehicle, for being honest enough to accept responsibility for the accident, although he wasn’t driving.

Thanks to all.

— Fae and Carlisle Findlay

Kind driver helps cyclist

I was a passenger in a car going down Ellice Avenue. As we reached the intersection of Home Street and Ellice Avenue, I looked out my window and saw a young bicyclist had fallen off his bike and had blood gushing from his nose. I witnessed a driver stop his car and hand the youngster some Kleenex.

I want to acknowledge the act of this kind gentleman.

— Harvey Smith