As the snow continues to fall, one cannot help but sit and think that the kindness of friends, neighbors and strangers comes into play as we bond during times such as these.

Being a widow and living alone in a home creates certain problems when the snow is too high to shovel yourself out of your driveway. Thankfully, I have heat and food. My next door neighbor has been an angel -- with his snow blower he has freed me from the feeling of being a prisoner.

But the most wonderful thing happened as I was clearing the spot where the snow plow blocked the drive. Through the flurries came the Columbia Gas meter reader.

When she asked if my stairs were clean to the meter, I lamented that they were not, and that if I was able to do the shoveling, I would have taken the heavy snow off my 42-year-old rhododendron bush, which was partially broken and hanging to the ground in two different directions.

She commiserated with my dilemma, being a gardener herself, then asked for my shovel. She made a path to the gas meter and took all the heavy ice and snow from my precious bush before getting the meter reading. She waved a cheery goodbye before going about her way down the snow- and ice-covered street.

People are what make Pittsburgh special. My thanks goes out to this nameless woman who took an old lady's anguish to heart.

JUDY ZWEIG-BERGER, Mt. Lebanon

Two weeks ago I went to the bank to withdraw money for my next week's expenses. After purchasing a cell phone from the West Mifflin Walmart, I decided to do some grocery shopping.

I did not realize how long I had been in the store until I was about to leave. To my surprise, it was a blizzard outside. Very windy and blowing snow, and much colder than it had been earlier in the day. It was very difficult to find my car.

After reaching the car, I quickly began to load the groceries into my trunk and drove home. As I started removing the bags from my trunk, I noticed my purse was not with the bags. I quickly brought all the bags in to the house and had to travel 20 minutes back to Walmart, this time in peak rush-hour traffic.

As I was driving, I began to pray that my purse would be at the store and the contents would be as I had left them. I felt calm and knew that when I arrived everything would be fine.

I went to the service counter and asked about my purse. A very kind saleswoman asked a few questions and pulled my purse from the shelf below. She said, "You are very lucky." I answered, "I am very blessed." The sales lady said someone found the purse from the parking lot and brought it to customer service.

By the weather being so bad, I did not check my purse until I was home. When I unzipped it, right on top was the money I had removed earlier from the MAC machine and which, in my haste, I had not put in my wallet.

To the person who found and returned my purse: Thank you so much for your act of kindness. May God bless you.

CHARLOTTE ANN FRYSON, Homestead

As we all know, our entire city and surrounding areas have been buried in snow. It took me two hours to dig my car out, and I did the best I could, but there was still some snow that I couldn't clear.

I stepped outside one day and saw a woman and her teenage son shoveling out the cars on the street and taking care of the remainder of the snow pile near my car. I thanked her, and she explained that she's a nurse and finished her shift at midnight. Soon after, she and her son took their shovels to the street to help people, especially knowing that more snow was coming and it was going to get worse.

Her act of kindness really made a difference in our Dormont neighborhood, and I want to thank her and her son for their hard work and thoughtfulness!

BRIDGETTE KENNEDY, Dormont

First Published: February 18, 2010, 10:00 a.m.