My wife and I were traveling south on Interstate 95 on our way to visit our son in Florida.

Suddenly, a large piece of retread rubber from a truck flew up from the car ahead of us and hit us with a loud bang. We could hear a scraping noise as we continued, and we figured the piece of tire was caught under our car.

We pulled off at the next exit and stopped at a gas station to take a look. It was not a piece of the tire that was doing the scraping; it was the protective shield beneath the engine compartment, which had been knocked loose.

We were puzzling over what to do next when, seemingly out of nowhere, a short, swarthy man appeared. He rolled himself under the damaged front bumper and pushed the shield back in place. As it was clearly not going to hold, he trotted to a nearby van and returned with a long strip of woven fabric tape.

He rolled under the car again and wrapped and tied everything in place. By the time he emerged and stood up, I was holding out a $5 bill for him to take. He waved it off with a smile and trotted back to the van, in which three or four other men were sitting. They all gave us a friendly wave as they drove off. In all this time not a word had been spoken.

I’m sure our “angel” was a Mexican migrant worker. He clearly spoke no English, and he was covered in white powder, apparently from plaster or drywall where he had been working.

DEANE LAVENDER
Cranberry

Someone took time in Ohio to return glasses to owner

I recently attended the funeral Mass for my beloved pastor, Father Dennis Colamarino.

I had to leave a few minutes early for another commitment. In my haste, I think I placed my glasses on the rear of my car in the church parking lot while unlocking my car door.

I realized afterward that they were missing. My name and address were in the case containing my glasses, and I assumed either someone would find them and put them in the lost-and-found at the church, or they were crushed and thrown away.

I returned to the church later in the day to see if anyone had turned them in, but no one had, so I pretty much gave up on them. I did have extra glasses at home, but the lost ones were my good prescription glasses.

The following Saturday’s mail brought a padded package containing my glasses, sent first class from Steubenville, Ohio. The name of the sender appeared to be a business, but it was blurred and I could not make it out.

I would love to thank the person who sent it. I can’t imagine how my glasses got to Steubenville. Maybe Father Dennis was already working small miracles.

EILEEN CONNELLY
Churchill

Large group of do-gooders assisted an injured woman

I fell on the sidewalk April 6, causing injury to my right hand and left knee.

As I half-sat, half-lay on the sidewalk, a village of strangers approached and cared for me. One woman called 911 while another went into a nearby bank to get water, paper towels and gloves.

A third-year medical student from Pitt donned the gloves and gently cleaned my wounds while her mother, a visitor from Oregon, soothingly spoke to calm me down.

A man stopped his car, got out and asked if I needed him to drive me to the hospital. Another man kept one eye on me and the other on the street, looking for the ambulance. People from the bank also came out to see how they could help.

When I tried to express my gratitude to all these individuals, they all replied as one: “You do not have to thank us. This is what people do for each other.”

How blessed I felt to benefit from the kindness of so many strangers!

RONNA L. EDELSTEIN
Oakland

Has someone done you right? Send your Random Act of Kindness to page2@post-gazette.com, or write to Portfolio, Post-Gazette, 34 Blvd. of the Allies, Pittsburgh, PA 15222.

First Published: April 30, 2015, 4:00 a.m.