Thousands of people were recently stranded in an icy traffic jam in Virginia, but that didn’t stop people from helping others.
Maryland couple Casey Holihan and her husband John Noe were stuck in the traffic jam on I-95 and had not eaten for more than 30 hours. They saw a bread truck from Schmidt Baking Company stuck in the same traffic jam just ahead of them. They decided to call the company’s customer service line and leave a message asking if the driver could give them and some others a loaf of bread. 20 minutes later, Holihan received a call from the owner of the Baltimore-based H&S Bakery, Chuck Paterakis. He told her that he was instructing the truck’s driver to open up the back and pass out some food.
The couple helped the truck driver Ron Hill pass out about 300 packages of rolls and loaves of bread to people in surrounding vehicles. Holihan told NBC affiliate WBAL, “We just kept giving it out until we couldn’t walk anymore because it was so freezing. It felt incredible just hearing people say thank you and hearing people just so relieved to finally have food in their car, food in their system and in their kids’ system. It was a really incredible feeling.” Despite Paterakis not being in the traffic jam himself, he was glad his company could help noting, “I’m so pleased that the people who were hungry, that hadn’t eaten for the past 24 hours, had a chance, even if it was bread, had the chance to fill their stomachs up. It was very gratifying to me. It was something I will always remember.”
