Snowpocalypse 2014, or SnowJam 2014, as many are calling it, had a madness all its own as thousands of cars slide over the icy roads, in bumper to bumper traffic, leaving people stranded and anxious as they spent hours just trying to get home. But in the midst of the chaotic situation, people all over Atlanta banded together to help one another and none more so than at Whitefield Academy.
When several teachers and students were unable to make it home, other Whitefield community members took them into their nearby homes, fed them dinner, and helped them settle in for the night in warm beds. Some used their vehicles that could handle the roads to rescue and drive people in need, towing people, and clearing roads to help them get home. Here are a few of the stories:
• Ed Barber drove many people where they needed to go, and the Barbers opened their home to people
who needed a place to stay; in total, they helped or housed about 80 people.
• Erik Peterson, Sean Schulte and Brian Simmons picked up people all night and early Wednesday morning, taking several of the staff home after they spent the night at Whitefield.
• Many families from Vinings Estates parked at Whitefield and walked through the woods where Stefanie Miller helped several staff and families wind through the stalled cars to their homes.
• Jan LeCraw opened her home to members of the Whitefield community.
• Lynn Babcock rescued a faculty member from her car after the teacher drove several hours trying to get home, finally giving up to take much needed shelter at the Babcocks.
Meanwhile, back at the school, Lou Nardi refused multiple rides to go home and instead found shelter at Whitefield for stranded passersby and faculty who couldn’t make it all the way home. Angel, a member of SAGE, the company that prepares meals for students every day, stayed at the school with his wife and helped feed the stranded strangers.
A powerful testimony to the Whitefield community were the emails exchanged between coworkers, updating one another on their status late into the night and committing to pray for one another until everyone was safe.
This week, members of the Whitefield community truly lived out the Whitefield mission statement to have a passion “for others ahead of self,” and join together as a community to help one another. The stories above are just a few of the stories we have heard since the Snowjam. We would love to hear all your stories to include in a spread the yearbook is doing to document the event. Please send your stories and/or photos to Heidi Wright at hwright@whitefieldacademy.com.
