From Hidden Brain Media, I'm Shankar Vedantam.

This is My Unsung Hero, stories where one person reached out to help another in a time of need.

My Unsung Hero is a boy named Spencer.

Every Sunday, Julie would drop off soup at our house.

I look forward to it everywhere.

I would say thank you for giving me one of the best gifts of my life.

Today's story comes from a listener named Carleen.

We're using only her first name to protect her privacy.

Many years ago, Carleen was physically attacked by her then

boyfriend. Terrified, she left their condo, sat down on the curb, and began to cry. When she tried to go

back inside, he had locked the door. Carline returned to the curb, cold and wondering what to do.

A few minutes later, a car passed by, and the driver stopped and asked if I was okay.

I said I was fine, but he could tell something was wrong, and he invited me to come to his house to get warm and get something to eat.

I didn't want to get in a car with a strange man because

that's kind of how I ended up here in the first place. But he said it wasn't very far and drove

slowly so I could walk alongside. When we got to his house, I stayed several steps behind while he

walked up to the door. And when he opened the door,

he called for his wife. And she came out, hugged him, said, what's up? He gestured to me to come up

and he said, this is Carleen. She's going to have some dinner with us. She just turned to me and

smiled, welcomed me like an

old friend, and when I went in, there were the most glorious smells of home-cooked meal,

and then there was their son, who was about 10, and he was just as kind and welcoming.

...