You helped this shopper more than you realize

Every Monday morning I shop at the Giant Eagle in Brentwood Towne Square. I am handicapped and use a riding cart to shop. It is very difficult to unload the bags from the cart into the trunk of my car as I am seated and don't have the proper leverage to lift the bags.

Ninety-nine times out of 100, some kind person (man, woman, youngster, oldster) offers assistance in putting my bags into the trunk of my car. They have no idea how much of a help this is.

Thank you to all those who have done this for me

GERRY SONOSKEY
Baldwin Borough

Cold drink on hot day brings rewards aplenty

It was 92 degrees outside. I was waiting in the air-conditioned foyer of my condominium for the mailman to sort the mail when another resident gave him a can of pop to help him out on a hot day. I was inspired and told her so.

The next day, still 92 degrees outside, I took a bottle of water down for him. (I don't stock up on sodas.) He was not there, but a substitute mailman walked in. I offered him the water. His face lit up and he said, "I was just thinking how nice a drink of cold water would be. I have done the mail but came back as I forgot to take the outgoing mail. I am glad I forgot it."

The lady who gave the pop not only did an act of kindness, but she also set a good example, which had a ripple effect. I remember someone who did me a favor said to me when I thanked her: "Just do a kind act for someone else and ask them to do the same -- think of all the people who will be doing kind acts."

THERESE McKENZIE
Bridgeville

Everyone pitched in for disabled vehicle

On Saturday night, July 12, our car broke down in the middle of Eighth Avenue in Homestead with traffic galore.

A man in a truck, a guard from Sandcastle, helped us pull over to the side of the road. A tow truck also pulled in to try to help, but because of a plastic bumper, he couldn't tow us.

A woman and her kids pulled over and let us use her cell phone (we had none) to call AAA. The woman from AAA did not understand that we needed a tow -- not a jump -- so we sat there for 3 1/2 hours. The woman and her kids came back a total of three times, and the last time she said she would wait till the tow truck came, and she put her blinkers on, because by that time it was pitch black out.

This woman had a halo over her head.

LINDA LEFFAKIS &
KEVIN MARTIN
Swissvale

One man, one vote, one helpful stranger

On Pennsylvania's primary election day, my elderly brother, who has bad knees, walked several blocks to vote in Brookline. Halfway, his legs gave way and he sat on the pavement.

A gentleman walking nearby came to his rescue. Learning that my brother wanted to vote, the man rushed home, brought his car and took him to vote, and then dropped him off safely at his apartment.

S.R. LEE
Pittsburgh