A man who may have saved the lives of 24 people by breaking into a school in Cheektowaga, upstate NY during the ‘worst storm in a generation’ has been given Super Bowl Tickets by his hometown team.
Jay Withey, the 27-year-old mechanic and hero, received the reward for his live-saving actions from the Buffalo Bills in collaboration with Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Legendary former Bills running back Thurman Thomas personally delivered the surprise to Withey on Friday, reports CNN.
“We love you. We know what you did on Christmas Eve was very heroic, and you’re our hero,” Thurman told Withey in a video released by the team.
“I can’t believe how far [the news of his deed] got. I got thank you letters from Australia, it’s wild,” says Withney.
He rescued 24 people from their cars during the Buffalo blizzard and sheltered them in a nearby school.@ThurmanThomas, @PThomas3434, and @BCBSWNY thanked Jay Withey for his acts of heroism with two tickets to Super Bowl LVII! ❤️💙 pic.twitter.com/ftHmXcRkzZ
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) January 13, 2023
Jay broke a window of Edge Academy on Christmas Eve in order to get 2 dozen people, including several seniors and two dogs, out of hurricane-force winds, snow, and deathly cold temperatures. He borrowed the academy’s snowblower to get people unstuck from the roads and into the school.
MORE LIKE THIS: McDonald’s Workers Open Their Restaurant as a 24-hour Storm Shelter During Blizzard in North East
Once inside, he found granola bars, water, and blankets in the nurses’ office, and gathered apples, juice, and cereal from the kitchen. The group sat out the storm, and before leaving cleaned up every trace of their presence.
One of the group, Mario Johnson, went back to the school to replace their stock of granola bars and inquire about the cost of the window.
The school declined to press any charges, nor accept any of Mario’s repeated attempts to pay for the window. “They’re just happy that we were safe and warm,” Mario said.
READ THE ORIGINAL STORY: Local Hero Broke into School to Save 24 People During a New York Blizzard
“The selflessness that people showed to help others during the storm is what Western NY is really made of,” a Police spokesperson said about the incident on Facebook.
SHARE This Happy Ending To A Happy Ending With Your Friends…
I loved hearing about this heroic young man – thank you GNN for running the follow-up story of ‘Merry Christmas Jay.’ I hope he has a great time at the Super Bowl.
If you live in the upstate “Lake Effect Snow” area of New York and you are caught in a blizzard, break into a nearby school. You’ll be warm and find food in the cafeteria. Happy for all of the survivors.