"Help please. I'm stuck at Clinton and Babcock. Phone dying and I really need to get home to my kids. I have money."
That was the message that Cassandra Garmon, a single mother of two and pharmacy tech at Buffalo General, posted at 8:54 p.m. Friday to the "Buffalo Blizzard 2022" Facebook group.
She was desperate.
Garmon had left her home in Cheektowaga early that morning to get to her job. Her daughters, Jasmyn, 13 and Ja'Laya, 4, had a snow day, but Garmon, an essential worker, had to go to work. She knew they'd be safe and happy at home when she left, not knowing what the day would have in store for her.
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"I knew it was going to snow. I didn't know it was going to be like that," Garmon said in a phone interview Sunday, recounting how she ended up snowbound in her car.
It was raining when she drove to work, and by afternoon, the snow was blowing around and she was getting nervous.
She said she got the OK to leave at 2:30 p.m., half an hour early.
It took a half an hour to get her car warmed up before she headed out. Her plan was to get over to Clinton Street and take that all the way home.
She realizes now that she wasn't prepared.
"I moved to Buffalo three years ago. I'm from Virginia. I'm not used to this cold or snow or anything like that," she said.
Her car got stuck on Jefferson Avenue, near Sycamore Street, but Garmon was able to rock her car back and forth and get out of that one.
But the conditions rapidly deteriorated.
"The snow was so bad, I was literally driving with my head out the window. It felt like my face was getting cut," she said.
She got to Clinton Street. She couldn't really see, and she kept almost crashing into cars that were stuck or abandoned in the middle of the street, she said.
Soon, her Chevy Malibu got stuck, too, between Seneca and Babcock streets.
She began calling anyone she could think of to try to help her, but the snow was so bad that no one could. She called 911, but even police and firefighters were getting stuck in the snow.
She was getting scared.
"I had no food. No water. No nothing. All I had was gum. I didn't have a phone charger," Garmon said.
A truck pulled up and a woman who was driving offered to try to help. But that didn't work. She was able to move her car about 50 feet, but it got stuck again. And the woman said she didn't know what she could do. She couldn't see.
Garmon remained in her car, worried about her daughters who were home alone.
She still had gas in her car, and she left it running. But at about 10 p.m., the battery for her cell phone went out.
"I had no way of calling my kids," Garmon said.
She had to do something. Through the snow that was flying sideways, she could see there was a house. She went to it and banged on the door. No luck. She went to the house next door.
It turned out to be the woman from the truck.
She had no power in her house, which was already freezing cold by then.
A family photo of Cassandra Garmon's daughters, Jasmyn, 13 and Ja'Laya, 4, who were home alone waiting while their mother was stranded in the snow.
Garmon asked if she could borrow a phone. The woman said she had a spare charger and gave that to her. Garmon went back to her car and plugged in her phone.
She called her girls, who were frantic.
"I'm trying. I'm trying. I'm trying," Garmon told them. Her older daughter was crying. Garmon knew her life was in danger, but she didn't want to tell her daughters.
That's when she found the Facebook group and made her plea for help. People began sharing her post and offering help. A friend texted her to tell her she needed to ration the gas in her car, keeping her engine on for 10 to 20 minutes and then turning it off for 40 or so, to conserve fuel and keep just enough heat. She also learned about going outside to clear her tail pipe, so she didn't end up being poisoned by carbon monoxide.
"My brother, he tried to get to me. But he got stuck in his street and he had to turn around," she said.
Garmon had her coat on tight and pulled her hoodie on over her head.
She was determined to stay awake, too scared to fall asleep in the conditions.
She continued to ask for help.
"I'm in desperate need of help yall. I've been out here since 3pm please. On Clinton between Babcock and Bushnell. I have cash," she wrote at 2:22 a.m. Saturday.
The sun came up and she was still stuck. Then she saw a Facebook post that would be her lifeline.
Cars are buried in snow on Christmas Day in the Elmwood Village in Buffalo.
"Snowmobile is out if you are stuck in car I can get you home," wrote a man named Tommy Kozaczka.
She sent him a message. She didn't hear back. She begged others in the Facebook group to share her plight with him. At about 11:41 a.m., he responded and said he was on his way.
Then, at about 12:30 p.m., Kozaczka pulled up alongside her on his snowmobile. Soon, she was on the back and he zipped her away.
He dropped her off at the Seneca Babcock community center, where there were 20 to 30 people seeking shelter.
There was no power there, but there was warm food. A neighbor brought over hot water for tea and cocoa for everyone, and there were others cooking soup and chicken in a kitchen at the shelter.
Garmon was grateful to be inside. Her boots had gotten wet, and her feet were going numb.
Garmon was safe, but she still needed to get help. She put out another plea on Facebook.
A few hours later, two men pulled up in a truck to take her home.
There was so much snow in the parking lot of the apartment complex that they had to drop her off at the edge. She waded through the snow, almost losing a boot.
She opened the door and saw her older daughter.
"She squeezed the air out of me. She was so worried," she said.
Sunday morning, Garmon had gotten some rest and was only starting to digest what had happened. At about 11:41 a.m. she got a call. It was the Buffalo police, asking whether she was still stuck.
"I can't imagine if I was," she said.
"Honestly, because of all the people that have shared my post and were praying for me and concerned for me, I have never felt so cared for in my life," Garmon said. "I have a little different outlook on people. I have literally seen with my own eyes how people can pull together."
She wanted to especially thank the woman in the truck, Kozaczka and the two men in the truck.
"I'm thinking of the people that did not make it out, that are still stranded. I know how scary it was for me and they've been out there longer than me," she said. "But I am just so thankful. I'm thankful to be alive."
