Dear Editor,

 In July of this year, my family and I were returning home to Missouri from Florida. Our car started making a terrible noise, and I pulled off I-65 at exit 212 into a gas station. It was Saturday night and almost 6 p.m. 

A man paying for his gas overheard me tell the clerk I was having car trouble. He said his name was Mark McKinnon and he owned the Toyota Dealership up the road. He called one of his mechanics on his cell, and we tried to diagnose the issue. Although the shop was closed, he had us wait at his dealership until one of the mechanics, named Jimmy, came and checked out our car. Mark left me his cell number and said to contact him if I needed anything.

Jimmy couldn’t find anything wrong, and we suspected a rock had gotten stuck in the rotor. Jimmy gave me his cell number and said to call if the noise came back later. Being 800 miles from home after 6 p.m. on a Saturday night, I was expecting to pay big bucks to have someone come in after hours and fix my car. Instead, Jimmy only charged me $25.

I would like to thank both Mark and Jimmy for helping a stranger in need and showing extraordinary kindness. They are a credit to the Clanton community.

Tim Berry, Bates City, Mo