Rural Carrier Patricia Stephens was delivering mail one day last winter in Lake George, NY, when a 13-year-old girl approached her for help.
The barefoot teen — clothed only in shorts and a T-shirt in temperatures below freezing — was home alone and had locked herself out of her house over an hour beforehand.
Stephens immediately gave the girl snow pants, gloves, socks and hand warmers, as well as a phone so she could call her mother, who provided instructions on getting back inside the house.
The teen later gave Stephens a handwritten note, mentioning that another postal employee had recently assisted a neighbor in a similar quandary.
“I guess you guys are kind of angels,” she wrote. “You were quite sweet and helpful, and I thank you for that.