A cleared pavement tells the walker that somebody imagined their arrival.

Clearing a path is a message as much as a job. Snow shifted before anyone needed to walk on it means somebody pictured a person coming, probably an older neighbour or somebody pushing a pram, and acted on that picture. The walker receives not just an easier surface but the knowledge that they were thought about in advance.

Do the bit outside your own door and then a little further than that. Salt the step of the house where somebody struggles. It takes ten minutes, and the person who benefits will understand exactly what it meant.