ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Alex Ware and his girlfriend Kalea Miller are Pittsburgh Steelers fans from West Virginia, but when they realized they lost their keys in Monday’s Highmark Stadium snow, Bills Mafia came to help.
The two of them came up to Western New York for Monday’s Buffalo Bills game, but when they left, Alex realized something very important was missing.
“When we got back to the car,” Alex said. “I realized the keys were no longer in my possession.”
Rather than allowing Alex and Kalea to stand in the cold weather all night, a very nice Bills fan took them back to her house.
“I wish I could tell you her name, but a Bills fan took us to her house, then we got a hotel in East Aurora that was close,” Alex said. “Her son drove us to our hotel over there, because that’s close to where they were from.”
Once they got back to their hotel room, their trip got worse.
Alex’s family back home tried to mail him the spare key to his car, but even that got lost too.
“I called my dad the next day, he decided to overnight ship my spare key to me,” Alex said. “The snowstorm hit, [and] my spare keys are still in the mail.”
The NYSDOT announced that 23 cars that were stuck in the snow over the course of the week were towed, 19 of which ended up at the Tops parking lot in Orchard Park.
Alex and Kalea found their car right in the middle of them, sharing a message they hope reaches that kind member of Bills Mafia that so graciously helped them out.
“Bless her heart. If she sees this, please reach out to me, because she was a big help,” Alex said. “To be honest, it was such a mess that night, I don’t even remember her name.”
After I posted their story to social media, we found her!
Bills Mafia stays undefeated 🦬💙❤️
— Derek Heid (@DerekHeid) January 18, 2024
I just met Alex and Kalea, Steelers fans from West Virginia.
They lost their car keys in Monday's Highmark Stadium snow, and rather than letting them freeze… a Bills fan from East Aurora brought the two back to her house. 🏠☺️ @WKBW pic.twitter.com/0YAsFliST1
Meg Hodson’s son saw the video and asked his mom to hop on Zoom and talk to me.
“Initially we walked by and ignored them. Then I thought, ‘I’m with my daughter, what am I teaching my daughter if I just ignore this couple that is in distress,” Meg said. “I said, ‘Why don’t you come with us, come to my house, and we will get you to the hotel’.”
She’s actually from Orchard Park, not East Aurora, and felt that this was just the right thing to do.
“I’ve been in situations before where I’ve been lost in another city. They were obviously Steelers fans, and they were lost and confused,” Meg said. “For me, it was more so my kids were with me and showing my kids to always do the right thing.”
Alex got a spare key made at the West Herr Chevy dealership down the road and tells me they will be on the road home soon.
“I don’t know when I’m getting home, but I will get home eventually,” Alex said.
He will be coming home to West Virginia with quite the story about the warm spirit of Western New York.
