FROM A BOAT impaled on a dock to the kindness of strangers, your stories of the storm answered my call.

I'll share as many as possible today and Sunday.

Monica Cox of Spotsylvania County had an experience shared by many. After a night of listening to falling trees, she and her husband peeked out the next morning to find more than 20 trees down.

Needing help, Cox asked her stepdaughter to make a simple sign: "Tree-cutters needed."

"Within five minutes, there were people stopping to inquire," said Cox. "A father and son helped my husband for almost two hours and would not accept any money. The father said it was his teenage son's idea to help hurricane victims."

Other help followed, from assistance cutting and loading debris to the promise of space in a neighbor's freezer.

Richard Helmke of Stafford County also has a new faith in the kindness of strangers.

Though the 69-year-old Helmke was glad that the many 60-foot trees toppled on his lot didn't hit his house, one huge one did hit his pickup truck and another blocked his drive.

After working several hours to get his truck free, he was tired, angry and depressed.

That's when an attractive, well-dressed young woman he'd never seen before walked up.

"Looks like you've got some trouble. Can we help?" she asked, pointing to her husband, at the end of the driveway with a chain saw in hand.

Helmke offered to pay the pair for any help, but they refused and set to work clearing downed trees.

When they finished, they again refused any payment, wanting only the directions to one of Helmke's neighbors in need of help.

Helmke added: "I live just east of Brooke Point High School. This lovely couple had come from their home near White Oak in the southeast corner of the county to help me and others. We had not met them before, but we will not forget them."