Five bags of groceries, two children and no transportation: Shellvina Caines really needed a hero.

The 28-year-old was stranded at Maximart Supermarket, and had her hands full.

“My two children and I walked to the grocery store from our home as we often do,” the Sandys resident said. “I only intended to buy a few things but in the end I had five bags of groceries. I really felt overwhelmed.”

She tried calling family to pick her up, but it was National Heroes Day. They were all busy on the holiday or without transportation themselves. “Sometimes it’s hard to get a taxi in Somerset,” said Ms Caines, who works at Butterfield Bank. “Taxis were going by but they were full. Then one went by empty but the driver signalled that he was on his way to pick someone up.”

“I just put my head down and prayed. I do believe that prayer changes things.”

Almost as soon as she’d said “amen”, the empty taxi that had passed earlier turned around and came back.

“I wondered how the driver would react since I only needed a ride for a little ways down the road,” said Ms Caines. “I knew it would be a waste of time for him.”

The driver said he would take her anyway. When Ms Caines said she just needed to pop over to the ATM to take out some cash for the ride, he told her not to worry about it.

“I was literally in tears,” said Ms Caines. “I could not believe he was going to take me home and not charge me to do it. Not only did he take me home but he helped me get my groceries out of the car and into my house.”

She didn’t ask the driver his name but a sticker inside the taxi said it was licensed to Trenton Butterfield.

“Later I went on Facebook and posted about the experience on Maj’s List,” she said.

More than 500 people “liked” the post.

“That was overwhelming in itself,” she said. “Everyone was very positive. One person commented that the driver was a wonderful ambassador to Bermuda. Another wrote to say that the driver was Corey Butterfield. The taxi belonged to his father Trenton. They said he was aware of the post, which made me happy.”

Ms Caines added: “It may have been a small thing to him, but to me it meant a lot. I struggle having two children and not having any transportation and a busy lifestyle.

“I do catch taxis pretty regularly. I just hope someone does something special for him the way he did for me. I believe in karma and I think it will come back to him in a big way.”

She spoke to the newspaper about her story because she wanted Mr Butterfield to know how much he was appreciated. “Very seldom do people go out of their way to help others,” she said. “I was definitely appreciative of that.”