PAID FORWARD: Every once in a while, we get to hear from someone special, someone with something new to tell us or a story to share. It just so happens we had a chance this week to hear from a sweetheart from the community who wanted to thank an anonymous helper.

Bonnie Smith called to let us know about a good news story she had to share.

She was in Tops on Saturday, in the dairy aisle, when a lady befriended her. “I didn’t get her name,” Bonnie told us. But this new friend helped Bonnie get more than the flowers she had come in for.

“She walked with me down the bakery aisle, then to the register. She paid for her items, and then told the cashier she was paying for mine, too.”

Bonnie said she is an 87 year-old disabled woman, and having this extra help was so kind she had to let others know there are good people out there. But, that is not all her new friend did.

“She walked me to my car, put my groceries in, and helped me get in as well.”

She wished she had gotten the name of the lady that helped her on Saturday so she could say thank you or write a note to her personally, but hopes she reads the paper and sees this note and knows it is to her.

Winston Churchill said, “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”

Give the car behind you a cup of coffee, give a smile to someone, give an ear without offering advice — there are so many ways to pay it forward.