By Tuesday evening, parts of Buffalo, N.Y., had turned into a winter wonderland, according to Tim Wenger of WBEN, Audacy’s station there.
Just days before, motorists left stranded by severe storms that have already left a record 100 inches of snow in the region found a different kind of haven. In a Target.
When Jessica Sypniewski and her boyfriend Samuel Lebron got caught in white-out conditions in the Buffalo area Friday, they were greeted by Target workers at Target Plaza on Walden Avenue in Cheektowaga, according to The Buffalo News. They handed the couple steaming cups of hot cocoa.
“I got so emotional, I just sat down and started crying,” Sypniewski said.
Before they arrived at Target, she and Lebron had struggled against wind gusts in their car for more than an hour. First, they tried a grocery store in the plaza, but they were turned away.
“You never know,” said Sypniewski. “People could have died. I truly believe they saved lives,” she added of the Target employees, who she thinks deserve raises and bonuses.
As of Tuesday, at least 28 people in Buffalo alone had died due to the weather conditions.
For two days, seven employees stranded at the Target location worked to provide hospitality to two dozen stranded motorists also trapped at the store through the holiday weekend. They gave others stranded by the blizzard inflatable mattresses, sheets, pillows and blankets and told everyone to make themselves “a little home,” Sypniewski said.
During the impromptu blizzard sleepover, the employees also provided snacks, water, a change of clothes, basic hygiene items, phone chargers, coloring books and markers to the guests.
“Workers even unwrapped a TV and set it up the next day near the store's Starbucks kiosk so everyone could watch the Buffalo Bills game,” said The Buffalo News. TikTok videos of the experience shared by user @carlarodxd have now been viewed millions of times.
As the storm continued, they would scrape ice off the windows and invite in anyone else in need. Some of the blizzard refugees included an elderly man and a woman with muscular dystrophy.
Once everyone was able to dig out on Christmas Day, the workers opened packages and put together a Christmas meal.
As of Tuesday, the Buffalo area was still reeling from the storm, but in a safer way.
“I ventured out on the streets of South Buffalo and the vision was remarkable,” said Wenger.
WBEN compiled photos of the aftermath that show houses covered in ice. Public officials were also arguing over efforts to remove the epic piles of snow.
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