BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — "If someone were to tell me my story, I don’t know if I could believe them."
A story that starts with mechanic Jay Withey and ends with dozens of new family members
It was Friday night December 23.
Withey had just got home from work when the blizzard intensified. He then got a call from a friend stuck driving in the snow a few miles away.
"Put some sweatpants on and a sweatshirt on and took off," said Withey.
On the way he picked up a guy named Mike who he saw walking in the snow.
"We both navigated using our phones because you couldn’t see," said Withey. "Never seen snow fall in piles like this and the wind didn’t help."
That wind created snow drifts as tall as his pickup truck. He got stuck in one for good with a quarter tank of gas left
"I told this Mike kid, I said 'Listen I have money in my wallet, I have $500, someone is going to let us stay in their house for $500. I left my truck and I walked, couldn’t see my hand, it was like sticking my hand through a wall."
He was out for more than two hours searching for shelter.
"I knocked on every house I could find and unfortunately all turned me down," said Withey. "My body started shutting down, my chest locked up, my hands froze solid, I couldn’t open my hands."
And the blizzard roared on.
Withey said he lost his vision and was on the brink of collapsing but then a miracle.
"I end up bumping into something that was vibrating and realizing I just walked into the back of my own pickup truck," said Withey. "So I got in the truck put my hands on the dashboard and my head on the steering wheel and that’s all I remember I passed out."
Withey woke up with blurry vision and then in the first few minutes of Christmas Eve — a knock on his door.
"She works at ECMC, her name is Mary and she went to go get shelter and she found my truck by miracle" said Withey.
Mary, Mike, and Jay remained in the truck until it ran out of fuel a few hours later.
"I looked on my GPS and found a building it ended up being that school," said Withey.
There was only one clear option on this Christmas Eve morning — breaking into Edge Academy.
"Schools have very safe windows so it's very hard to break," said Withey.
Withey found uninstalled brake pads in his truck and used that to break the glass of the school window. Once inside he disarmed the alarm and walked out to get Mary and Mike from his truck and brought them inside. But he wasn’t done.
"I made like 40-50 trips out of that school," said Withey.
All of Saturday, Withey searched for people.
He said he dragged 11 people from cars into the school, like Robert Holzman.
“Somebody approached the car and said they got into the school, that was Jay," said Holzman.
According to Withey, there were a total of over 60 people at the school when he had it open.
Withey used school resources wisely and to help everyone.
He continued to go out and search for people, even to nearby homes inviting people to the warm school he unlocked or using his mechanic skills to fix the generators of those who turned down the invitation.
While he was out, people wandered into the school like Sabrina and her child
“I thought we were going to die," said Sabrina.
Before leaving on Christmas night he made sure everyone was good and left a note.
To whomever it may concern,
I'm terribly sorry about breaking the school window & for breaking in the kitchen. Got stuck at 8 pm Friday and slept in my truck with two strangers just trying not to die. There were 7 elderly people also stuck and out of fuel. I had to do it to save everyone and get them shelter and food and a bathroom.
Merry Christmas
Jay
"If anyone can take anyone from this — if you can help someone, help them," said Withey.
Due to his actions, the Buffalo Bills and Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield sent Withey to the Super Bowl and in the summer he threw out the first pitch at a Bisons game, but most importantly Withey says he has a bigger family now.
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