Good Samaritan Comes to Rescue During Snowstorm

Good, loving people still exist in the world. Despite what a quick glance at television news broadcasts and a perusal of popular social media sites may reveal, there are still people who genuinely care for their fellow man. A CBS Mornings reporter caught up with one of those people.

In late December, Buffalo, New York was hit by a blizzard. One woman took quick, decisive action during the snowstorm that helped to save one man's life.

That woman, Sha’Kyra Aughtry, and her boyfriend were settling in to celebrate Christmas but on Christmas Eve, things changed, according to NewYorkUpstate.com. 

Sha’Kyra heard someone yelling for help. She looked out her window and saw a man unable to move in the snow, 4° temperature and the 50 mph winds. So, she took Joe White, a 64-year-old man with developmental disabilities, into her home, according to CBS. 

White was on his way to work at a local movie theater. He has worked as a custodian there for 40 years. White had no gloves as he ventured out on his dangerous trek to work. Instead, he had plastic bags around his hands. 

“He had ice, literally ice balls around his hand,” Sha’Kyra said. 

Sha’Kyra bandaged his hands and then called 911 and other emergency services over and over to get Joe some medical attention. 

No one ever showed up.

Then, on Christmas, Sha’Kyra turned to social media, pleading for someone to help Joe get proper medical attention. Two other people showed up at Sha’Kyra’s house in their truck and helped take Joe to the hospital.

“When I got in the truck, he told me he was scared,” Sha’Kyra said. 

“And I said, I’m scared, I’m scared too. I’m scared too, Joey and I said, ‘You know, we got help. The doctors are gonna take care of you.’ And then when he told me he loved me, I knew, I knew he really felt safe.”

Joe’s sister praised Sha’Kyra for her kindness and saving her brother’s life.

For Sha’Kyra, this past Christmas is one that she will never forget. 

“I knew he needed help, and I kept thinking about, what if it was my family member?” Sha’Kyra said. “Christmas wasn’t even about the gifts, about my kids, it wasn’t. It was, literally, him. Christmas was him. He was a very good Christmas gift and now for the rest of my life, I will remember him.”

Isaiah 25:4 “For you have been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.”