To the Editor:

On Saturday, September 11, a dear friend and I drove from our retirement community to the local UPS store to mail a package.  After helping me climb the curb in front of the store, he suddenly lost his balance and fell back into the parking lot.

Within minutes, half a dozen people magically appeared and began to help. Not knowing each other nor saying much, they somehow worked as a team, simply doing whatever needed to be done. One called 911, another brought paper towels to wrap his bleeding elbow, while a third mailed the package.  Someone else put a clean bath towel under his head and an umbrella above it to shelter him from the sun. One of the men even brought me a chair while we waited for the Montgomery police and the ambulance. Sad to say, I remember only two of their names, Gail and Dave. 

Soon the Montgomery EMS men were bandaging his arm, assessing his condition, and doing it all with a professional but calming light touch. Before Joe and Sid (two more new names) helped my friend into the ambulance, Joe told me he had been trained by a friend of ours who no longer drives for them, but still raises funds for these stalwart volunteers.

As the ambulance drove away to the emergency room (which, to our great relief, found nothing more than a few bad scrapes), Gail and Dave and their partners were still standing by, adding to the feeling of family I’d had since the beginning. 

We hope that everyone involved reads this letter so we can thank them for turning what could have been a dreadful afternoon into a memory of the kindness and compassion of strangers. We wish we could thank you in person. We will never forget you.

Markell Shriver
Montgomery Road, Skillman