Last Tuesday night I decided to go to the Snowed In Comedy Tour. It was a fun show. But since I work close to the Rawlinson centre, I walked over. No big deal.

Tuesday, though, was the worst day for blowing snow. I hadn’t left the office all day. From the time I had parked my car in the morning until the post 10 p.m. time I was attempting to go home, the wind had blown snowdrifts into my Ford Escape. The snow had become trapped under my car and behind each of my tires, hardening as the temperature drops.

My vehicle has all-wheel drive. It usually works fairly well. But buried deep in snow, from a still start, against a mound of hardened snow? I didn’t have quite enough juice.

Enter Jennifer.

I don’t know her last name, but Jennifer from Black Lake was walking by that night as I was struggling to get myself freed from the snowdrift.

She shouted to me from the other side of the fence tat blocks off our parking lot from 10th Ave., saying she’d come around to help.

I told her I was fine, I could handle it, but she insisted.

By now, I had grabbed a shovel from the office and was working at digging myself out.

Jennifer again insisted she help. She grabbed the shovel and cleared WAY more snow way more efficiently than anything I had done.

Next, she crawled underneath my car, clearing what she could so I couldn’t get trapped.
We were getting there.

She spotted a few men walking by. She asked for them to help. Again, I was insistent that I could take it from here.

She convinced one of the men to come over and help. They pushed while I drove in reverse. I was freed.

I thanked them, embarrassed and apologetic that I had nothing to give them. But they didn’t expect anything. They had helped out of kindness. Jennifer helped me help the man who helped me get home safely. Then she had me drop her off back by the Herald. She shook my hand, gave me a hug and went on her way.

“See you around,” – that was the last thing she said to me.

Jennifer definitely deserves a golden shovel award. She went above and beyond to help a stranger in need.

That night in the bitter cold, with my car stuck, with me not at all dressed for the weather, Jennifer from Black Lake was my snow angel.

Thank you, again, for helping me get home safe.

Ashamedly, I must admit one of the reasons I was unfomfortable with receiving help was I didn’t trust two strangers near my personal belongings.

But I had nothing to fear. All they did was help.

We need more kindness like this in our world.

And we need to believe, and to see, the best in each other. Instead of fear, we need to see potential. We need to respect one another and not be afraid to help.

We can learn from this. We can learn from each other.

Jennifer showed me the best of humanity.

We need more people like her.