Last Tuesday, I was leaving Portland Adult Education at the Cathedral School, where I volunteer in an English as a Second Language class. I had parked at the top of Boyd Street, facing Cumberland Avenue.

It was pouring rain when I returned to my car about 2:15 p.m. I couldn’t get out of the parking place because the four tires of my car were on ice.

With my scraper, I tried to break the ice. I took sand from the road and placed it under the tires, to no avail.

A young man who lives in that neighborhood and who was walking home from Portland High School stopped and asked if I had a shovel. I did not.

An older man then drove up, parked his car and told me in accented English to “keep tires straight.”

He and the young man tried to push me out. More high school students arrived and jumped in to help. It took four young men and this older gentleman to free my car.

All the while, there were high school girls cheering them on and telling me my car was almost free. When I tried to give them money, the first young man said, “Please don’t insult us.”

I just wanted to share and to say how much I appreciated the help.

Gisele Bougie

Portland