CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A few Sundays back, I wrote about a friend's Facebook "question of the day" that asked people to share experiences that made them "fall in love with the human race." The stories shared made me feel so much better about people in general that I decided to ask the same question of readers.

The response was encouraging, with a few being meaty enough to deserve a whole column.

Wrote Nancy Kimble: "I was involved in a head-on collision and the man behind me used his CB (this was before cell phones) to call for help, came to my car, helped open the door, and held my hands while the EMTs placed my fractured leg on the backboard. He followed the ambulance to the hospital and waited until my family arrived to give his name as a witness to the accident. The person that collided with me was DUI, no driver's license and no insurance. I'll never forget him holding my hands."

Sue Ellen Anderson wrote about the time when she was 24 years old and driving from Augusta, Ga., to Gainesville, Fla., late on a Sunday evening when she realized she was nearly out of gas.

"I only had my dad's Amoco card and I couldn't find an Amoco station that was still open," wrote Anderson. "I had my checkbook, but no one would cash an out-of-state check for me. I was getting scared.

"Finally, a man working at an Exxon station in a small town in Georgia said that while the station wouldn't cash my personal check, he would. I still remember the name of that man I met for just a few minutes, over 43 years ago. Elmer Fender. What a guy."

From Tam Mallory of Charleston: "Back in the '50s, my parents and I were traveling through the Great Smokies. We were traversing up a particularly steep section of the mountainous road and our car started to overheat. As my dad pulled off the road, another vehicle stopped to render assistance.

"A small pinhole leak was discovered in the radiator hose. Since no tape was available to patch the hole, the young man, whose wife and toddler were standing nearby, offered the only solution he could think of -- a diaper.

"The impromptu solution held until we arrived in the closest town and replaced the hose, and the diaper was kept as a reminder of the generous souls who crossed our path that day."

Wrote Janet Yeager: "My husband is handicapped from a stroke and has to use a scooter to get around. He often rides his scooter from our house in a residential section of Madison to the downtown area of our small town.

"Recently, while he was on one of his downtown excursions, he lost his wallet. He returned home and wasn't even aware of his loss until the telephone rang. It was a lady who found the wallet and wanted to return it. She said she would be waiting on Main Street. I told her I would be right down."

Not a thing was missing from the wallet. Even a $100 bill was still there.

"I thanked her again and again," wrote Yeager. "She said she wanted to return the wallet because that is what she would hope someone would do for her if she was ever in the same situation. I know her kind act will someday come back to her."

Yeager and her husband live in Boone County, and for 43 years, she worked as editor and publisher of the county newspapers, both the Hometown News and the Coal Valley News.

"During those years I witnessed many acts of kindness from the citizens of our county, and I often wrote about them in a weekly column," wrote Yeager. "I have a lot of love for Boone County and our people, who are by far more good than bad. Most would, as the old saying goes, 'give you the shirt off their back' if you needed it."

And from Karen Winter of Charleston: "Ten years ago, our 19-year-old son was killed by a young man who ran a red light and hit a car that in turn hit Tommy while he was standing on the sidewalk downtown on Quarrier Street.

"When the news got out, so many people came to the house to give us support. The attendance at the visitation and funeral was indescribable. The outpouring of support and the remembrances people had of Tommy got us through the time."

Winter also wrote of when she was battling breast cancer six years ago.

"The following October, during Breast Cancer Awareness, my school -- Grandview Elementary -- held a 'Karen Day' at school for me.

"I am a retired (but working) elementary counselor of 31 years, and I believe that people are basically good. I have been shown this time and time again by students, parents and friends."

There's no such thing as a small act of kindness.

Wrote the late author Leo Buscaglia, "Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around."

Share your stories with Karin Fuller via e-mail at karinful...@gmail.com.