Thank You, Stranger: St. Paul's 'snow angels' shovel for those who can't themselves

NINA MOINI: Time for another episode of our series called Thank You, Stranger. All about the big and small ways we help each other out. This snowy week, Nikita Gaudet is coordinating dozens of shoveling projects for her neighbors in St. Paul. She helps lead a Facebook group called Saintly City Snow Angels. Here's Nikita.

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NIKITA GAUDET: Right now, we have 30 open requests that we've gotten in the last three days. People started asking for help when it was announced, the timing of the storm. Our mission statement is helping less-abled and elderly neighbors make sure their sidewalks are shoveled so that we have safe and passable sidewalks for all. And the group is set up so that people that need help will post their location. And our volunteers are supposed to watch our group page throughout the day and see if there's someone close to them or someone they're willing to travel to help out.

All sorts of circumstances are happening. We have senior citizens that just aren't able to do it themselves anymore and don't have people that can help, neighbors or family, friends, whatever. Or we have seniors and any other people that just can't afford it right now. This year especially, people can't afford to pay people.

Also people that are disabled, we have a lot of that community as well. People that just had surgery and they can't take care of their shoveling anymore until they're healed up again. Let's see. We just got a request from a man out in California asking for somebody to help his sister because he can't anymore. He moved.

So we had another man who asked for urgent help so that the people that delivered his oxygen tanks could get in. People don't know enough about it, I think, is a problem. So I'm a senior myself, and it gets harder as you get older. And it's just people in your lives fall away, and you're kind of trying to connect with people, and it's not always easy to do that. So this kind of help is, right now, so needed.

We've got 50 volunteers now. A lot of them have been helping people all along and are just very happy to see an opportunity to help more people. One particular person that just joined us this year, the first day on as a volunteer with us, he cleared nine different homes.

And he wrote us the greatest note about how rewarding it was, and he was so glad he had heard of us. He's got kind of a philosophy of life, I am because we are. The people needing help, help him to be who he wants to be, who he is. And we're so happy to have him on board.

Some people don't even know who helped them. So they'll post, to the angel to help me, I don't know who you are, but thanks so much. People tell me all the time that the person couldn't wait to speak out and tell them thank you. It's huge gratitude going on. It's just huge. Such a rewarding thing to be able to help, especially this community.

I had a home in Hamline-Midway for 33 years. I had to leave it due to health troubles, but I loved shoveling myself at my house. So I moved to an apartment about a year and a half ago. And so I don't have to do anything with shoveling anymore, but I miss it.

I know I would have needed help if I had stayed there. So I can relate. I just believe it's something that should be a part of my life always because it's just so rewarding. There's nothing like being able to help somebody, to me.

NINA MOINI: That was the voice of Nikita Gaudet, a leader with the Saintly City Snow Angels. You can see a photo of the snow angels at work at nprnewsandnotes.org. That piece was produced by Ellen Finn.