Snow day 2014: residents remember acts of kindness

U.S. 280-area residents remember acts of kindness they witnessed during the 2014 January snowstorm that locked down traffic in Shelby County.

By BETSY EMMONS

Re/Max Inverness owners opened their doors to stranded folks, as did Winn-Dixie Inverness, which fed people free dinner, coffee and breakfast.

Chick-fil-A employees passed out sandwiches on U.S. 280, Taziki's at Liberty Park offered free food and shelter, and CVS Inverness offered coffee and shelter. 

Also, Eagle Point resident Brian Lee was seen driving all over the 280 area on his four-wheeler carrying stranded passengers to safety.

By CONNIE EDWARDS, Christ Church United Methodist

After Christ Church United Methodist dismissed at 10:30 a.m., so many parents could not get to us. And the ones who did were stuck at the church. We had close to 100 people that stayed at the church Tuesday night.

Bradley and one of the high school students spent the whole afternoon and some of the evening going to the lower parking lot and helping people that were stranded. As it turned out, we had so many people that showed up at the church, I was beginning to worry that I didn't have enough food.

Lynne and Claudia helped everyone find places to sleep. Students wrapped up in tablecloths to keep warm. They held and impromptu talent show, which morphed into a dance party — so they were having a great time! 

Our teachers got up early and started cooking breakfast for all 100. By lunch, some of our stranded motorists had made it out, and by 3:30 the last were picked up. We had four more stranded motorists (that had showed up at 4 .a.m Wednesday morning) that Steve Ranier helped get back on the road.

It really was so wonderful to see so many people helping strangers, whether it was reassuring frantic parents whose students were stranded with us or making coffee or cooking for 100 people. So, if you have to be stranded somewhere, turns out Christ Church is not a bad place to be stranded in. 

JULIA JACOBS

I was on Valleydale Road near Inverness Elementary, where there's a dip in the road. Cars going eastbound on Valleydale could not make it up the hill past the elementary school, so there were three 4x4's that were tethering to cars and towing them one-by-one up the hill. As soon as they'd get one car up, they'd go back for the next.

On my side (west-bound on Valleydale) about four or five cars in front of me, one car got stuck on an ice patch. A guy was in the back trying to push it off, but it kept sliding toward him. Immediately, three other guys jumped out of different cars and ran toward the stuck car, then picked up the back of the stuck car and moved it off the ice - we all got going then. 

Home Depot workers were also trying to push people off icy patches on U.S. 280 and were bringing up bags of play sand and spreading it on the road. Chick-fil-A, Pizza Hut and Home Depot were offering people stuck in cars free food and water bottles. Daylight Donuts on Valleydale were also going car to car and offering free donuts.

By JEFF SCHEIRING

The folks at Drury Inn on Lakeshore did a great job of housing, feeding and comforting us lost souls on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Also, we are eternally grateful to two or three gentlemen who where using their ATV's to take us up Hugh Daniel to Greystone Farms. My family (including two young children) had parked at the bottom and decided to walk up the mountain to our house. Half way up, it was apparent this was not going to work and we would be spending another night in a hotel lobby, this time with two kids. Then our angels in hunting gear came rolling by and offered us a ride. They were truly sent by God and answered our prayers. Selfless people like this are why I love living in Alabama!

By ERIN DOVER REYNOLDS

Neighborhood Brew welcomed people stuck on Valleydale and Caldwell Mill. They had phone chargers for use, a box of hats, gloves and scarves. The owner had a four-wheel drive Jeep and gave people rides to anywhere local that was passable.