As thousands of motorists became trapped on Interstate 95 in Virginia for a day and a half, one Maryland couple decided to take action after spotting a bread truck.
Many drivers ran out of gas as freezing temperatures made road conditions hazardous along the 50-mile stretch in Stafford County. Some didn’t have food or water, and children, pets, and people with medical needs were among those stuck in the traffic nightmare.
Casey Noe was one the drivers who was trapped for nearly 21 hours, frustrated, tired, and hungry. That’s when she spotted a bread truck among the hundreds of other vehicles.
“After almost 21 hours of being stuck on 95 South, sleeping here over night, not having access to food or water, and all of the nearest towns being out of power we were tired, frustrated, and hungry.
“Many of the people stuck out here had small children, were elderly, had pets in the car, and hadn’t eaten in almost a whole day,” Casey said in a Facebook post that has attracted over 40,000 reactions.
Casey decided to call the owner of the truck Schmidt Baking Company, and ‘begged’ them to open up and share the haul of bread.
“We didn’t think it would actually work, but less than 20 minutes later we got an incredible surprise,” she said.
They received a call from the owner of Schmidt Baking Company, Chuck Paterakis, who personally asked the driver to hand out bread.
Casey said the driver, with help from several others, opened the back of the truck and passed out bread to more than 50 cars.
“This was one of the kindest moments I have ever witnessed,” Casey said in her post. “Thank you Schmidt.”
No injuries were reported and firefighters handed out blankets and water after snow, rain, and sleet caused several vehicles to jackknife and block the roads on Monday morning. This prevented salt trucks and plows from getting onto the highway to clear the snow.
The quick-thinking actions from Casey helped scores of stranded motorists. I can’t imagine how terrifying this must have been.
Thankfully the bread company owner understood the seriousness of the situation and generously helped those in need.
Help us pay tribute to these wonderful humans by sharing this story.
