Bringing People In

My husband Bob & I rescued 30 people into our home including truckers from Chicago and a Russian captain trying to get to his ship in Sarnia. We fed people with everything we had in the house plus coffee, beer and one insurance guy had been out delivering Christmas boxes of rum so we opened one up. I had done Christmas baking that day. We had just finished blowing out our driveway after rescuing a couple who got stuck on our road-Courtright line- they wanted to continue on their way. We finished cleaning around 4 p.m. and that’s when the cars started to come in the driveway.

We fit 10 cars in the driveway and then it started with a jack knife tractor trailer and we left the cars on the road. As it was so blustery and darkness set in my husband and I would walk to the corner with a camping lantern through massive snow drifts looking for stranded people as you couldn’t see our house. They were so grateful and said it was like an angel walking down the road. Then we brought them into the warm house. We were on generator power but still managed to keep everyone warm with the gas fireplace, blankets. People just slept everywhere. We used every blanket and pillow.

The truckers slept in their trucks and came in the house in the morning for French toast and coffee. We made 88 cups of coffee. It truly was an experience and everyone did their part including trying to siphon gas for the generator as it was getting low… but with new vehicles there’s no siphoning. A neighbour was able to get some out of a mini bike and then in the morning my husband walked down to Kelly’s sporting goods to get some gas.

Then the cleanup began. Our neighbor Tony brought in his backhoe and was amazing at getting the jack knife tractor trailer out of the ditch and cleaning the roadway as the snow plough couldn’t get through due to the traffic jam. Don from advantage farm equipment at the time used his tractor to get the transports moving as they were stuck on the road with ice underneath. It truly is an event we’ll never forget.