22 stories about the touching kindness of strangers that’ll make you tear up

When my husband died unexpectedly, a coworker took me under her wing. Every week for an entire year, she would send me a card saying “Just Thinking of You” or “Hang in There.” She saved my life. —Jerilynn Collette

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Driving home in a blizzard, I noticed a vehicle trailing close behind me. Suddenly, my tyre blew! I pulled off the road, and so did the other car. A man jumped out from behind the wheel and without hesitation changed the flat. “I was going to get off two kilometres back,” he said. “But I didn’t think that tyre looked good.” —Marilyn Attebery

When my grandson Max told his mother, Andrea, to donate any check she would give him for his 21st birthday, Andrea got an idea. She handed Max’s brother Charlie a video camera. Then she took out 21 $10 bills from the bank and bought 21 apples at the supermarket. When they spotted a homeless man, Andrea told him, “Today is my son Max’s 21st birthday, and he asked me to give a gift to someone to help him celebrate.” She handed the man a $10 bill and an apple. The man smiled into the camera and announced, “Happy birthday, Max!” Soon, they passed out their booty to men and women waiting in line at a soup kitchen. In a unified chorus, they wished Max, “Happy birthday!” At a pizza parlour, Andrea left $50 and told the owners to feed the hungry. “Happy birthday, Max!” they shouted. With one last $10 bill and apple, they stopped at Andrea’s sister’s office. Unable to contain her laughter or her tears, she bellowed into the camera, “Happy birthday, Max!” —Dr Donald Stoltz

I was driving cross-country to start a new job. What began as a fun adventure turned into a nightmare when I realised I had run through most of my money and still had a long distance to go. I pulled over and let the tears flow. That’s when I noticed the unopened farewell card my neighbour had shoved in my hand as I left. I pulled the card out of the envelope, and $100 dropped out – just enough to get me through the remainder of my trip. Later, I asked my neighbour why she had enclosed the money. She said, “I had a feeling it would help.” —Nadine Chandler

Children were playing at the recreation area of an IKEA store when my five-year-old granddaughter motioned for a small boy to stop. She knelt down before him and retied his flopping shoelaces – she had only just learned to tie her own. No words were spoken, but after she finished, both smiled shyly, then turned to race off in different directions. —Sheela Mayes

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When I was seven, my family took a road trip. At one point, my favourite blanket flew out the window and was gone. I was devastated. Soon after, we stopped at a service station. Moping, I found a bench and was about to eat my sandwich when a biker gang pulled into the station. “Is that your blue Ford?” a huge, frightening man with a grey-and-black beard asked. Mum nodded reticently. The man pulled my blanket from his jacket pocket and handed it to her. He then returned to his motorcycle. I repaid him the only way I knew how: I ran up to him and gave him my sandwich. —Zena Hamilton

When my friend and I were injured in a car accident, a family from out of state stopped to help. Seeing we were hurt, they drove us to the hospital and stayed there until we were released. They then took us home, got us food, and made sure we were settled in. Amazingly, they interrupted their holiday to help us. —Cindy Earls

I was four months pregnant with our first child when our baby’s heart stopped beating. I was devastated. As the days went on, I was nervous about returning to work. I’m a teacher and didn’t know how I could face kids. After four weeks of recovering, I walked into my empty classroom and turned on the lights. Glued to the wall were a hundred coloured paper butterflies, each with a handwritten message on it from current and past students. All of them had encouraging messages: “Keep moving forward,” “Don’t give up on God,” and “Know that we love you.” It was exactly what I needed. — Jennifer Garcia-Esquivel

Two firefighters were waiting in line at a fast-food restaurant when the siren sounded on their fire truck parked outside. As they turned to leave, a couple who had just received their order handed their food to the firefighters. The couple then got back in line to reorder. Doubling down on their selfless act, the manager refused to take their money. — JoAnn Sanderson

I’d pulled over onto the side of a road and was suffering a panic attack when a minivan full of kids pulled over. A woman got out and asked if I was OK. “No,” I said. Then I laid out what had happened: I was delivering books for a publishing company. My next stop was way, way up this long and winding and, to me, very treacherous road. I couldn’t do it. “I’ll deliver the books for you,” she said. She was a local, and the roads were nothing for her. I took her up on the offer and never forgot the simple kindness of a stranger. —Doreen Frick

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