On a beautiful day in late May, I was on a 20-mile bicycle ride on the bike trail in Boston, Pa. At about mile 19, I was tired but excited that I was about to meet my goal for that day.

I then got distracted and found myself falling to the right. Unfortunately, my feet were still in the toe cages. I immediately realized that my right foot was in an unnatural angle to the rest of my leg.

One or two other people walked by, glancing at this 60-year-old woman in the brush! I was trying to think logically about how to proceed when a man and woman asked if I needed help. His name is Steve and he lives in Boston.

Shortly afterward, Chris from Port Vue, who was there with his son and a friend, also offered to help. They immediately "took charge" and helped me to a nearby road where I had arranged to be picked up. After all, a cyclist can't call for an ambulance because she can't leave her bike!

Chris then stayed with me for at least 30 minutes until my partner arrived with the car. These people made a bad incident much better and are exemplary models for kindness to a stranger! I really don't know what I would have done without them.

COLETTE SATLER

Monroeville

You hope you never get the call, but on July 30, at 3:30 a.m., the phone rang and it was our daughter, Shoshana, calling to tell us that she had hit a truck and totaled our Volvo just after entering Interstate 376 from the Carnegie ramp.

The thanks go out to a man named Ray driving an SUV away from Pittsburgh. He stopped his car and, after checking that she was OK, made sure she got out of the car and off the side of the road just in case someone hit what was left of the Volvo. He also called 911 while our daughter rang our house.

Then, as the police arrived, he drove away.

LARRY ROBERTS

Squirrel Hill

Recently I went to CVS in Bellevue with two $20 bills in my hand (instead of in my purse) because I was in a hurry. A kindly gentleman approached me, asking if I had lost anything.

Naturally, I looked in my hand and told him I came in with two folded $20 bills. He reached in his shirt pocket and handed the money to me. He had seen the money on the floor, and I must have been the only person in sight.

He was such a sweet man, and we hugged and I thanked him profusely. He refused to allow me to buy him something in the store or to take a few dollars. We met again at the checkout, and after more hugs and a "God bless you," I told him I would pay his good deed forward to someone that day.

AMY JONES

Bellevue

My 13-year old son and I were walking the quarter-mile to Oakmont Country Club, where I was volunteering at the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament. Torrential rain had suddenly started moments earlier and we were both getting soaked with only one small, flimsy umbrella.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a man stepped out from his yard and handed us a large golf umbrella, enough to protect both of us. "Here, take it -- bring it back on your way home," he said.

I was overwhelmed at this stranger's kindness and full of appreciation that we made it dryly to our destination. As I thought about the encounter later, I realized how impressed I was that this man thought not only of others' needs, but also trusted us, total strangers, to return his umbrella (which, of course, we did).

So, thank you to the kind man who lives on 13th Street in Oakmont for the reminder that thoughtful folks like you are out there in the world!

ELENA COLIANNI

Oakmont

On a Wednesday afternoon three of us ladies pushed our walkers to Eat'n Park on Murray Avenue in Squirrel Hill to have lunch.

We ordered our lunch, and when we asked for the check we were told two young men in the next booth had already paid it. How very thoughtful. Thanks is not enough.

IDA MARETSKY

Squirrel Hill

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