Blizzard Rescue

A disabled man was stuck in a snowbank-until a stranger heard his cries

- Sydney Page

At 7:30 a.m. on Christmas Eve 2022 Yvonne White got a call from an unknown number.

"Hi. You don't know me, but I have your brother," said a shaky voice on the other end of the line.

It was Sha'Kyra Aughtry, a Buffalo resident who had rescued Yvonne's brother, Joey White, amid the deadly winter storm that began battering western New York the previous day.

Joey, then 64, is mentally disabled, Yvonne says. She had called him just before the storm hit, sternly instructing him not to leave the group home where he lives. He had promised her he would stay put.

But as Buffalo's worst blizzard in almost 50 years pummeled the city, Joey ventured outside.

It's unclear what time Joey left home or for what purpose, but Yvonne suspects he walked about 9 miles to North Park Theatre, a single-screen cinema where he has worked as a janitor since 1980. She believes he got scared and eventually decided to walk back home.

Joey's employer, Ray Barker-North Park Theatre's program director-called Joey on Dec. 22 before the blizzard began, telling him not to come to work.

"For someone who's used to being in a pattern, I think it's hard not to engage that pattern," says Barker, explaining that during the pandemic, when the theater was closed, Joey still showed up for work sometimes.