On Friday, Dec. 23, Vivian posted, “We tried so hard to help so many people today, and it was so impossible to get them. We couldn’t even get to my mom. The visibility was unbearable to drive. People please stay home, it’s hard for anyone to get to you. We have a truck with a plow and we couldn’t get out. Praying for safety and comfort in Jesus name over the city and the people.”
Al Robinson told Today that a friend with a snowmobile helped collect people in need during the Buffalo blizzard and bring them to the couple’s church. The Robinsons even destroyed the auto lock on their church doors so that no one would be stranded outside and freeze to death. They took in 120 people on Christmas Eve, and CNN reports that the Robinsons ended up taking in 154 people over the weekend.
“People were elderly,” Al Robinson told Today. “We had a 92-year-old that needed oxygen. We had 9-month-olds that needed formula. We had so many things going on and every one of those needs were met.”
Al also said the church center was full of mattresses and beds because he and his wife had just sold a rehabilitation home. “We used every one of those mattresses and beds to house all these people,” he said. “It was just crazy. I mean, it’s like all the life that we have lived before was for this one moment in time.”
The couple received help from the community, posting that people were delivering meals and baby formula, helping with rescue efforts and sending money.
“Seems God taught us all what Christmas is really about this year,” Al posted on Christmas Day. Several days later he reflected, “Looking back, I had to of been powered by the Almighty. I did things I just can’t do. Ever.”
Yet while many were miraculously rescued, others were not. “We are still finding people in their cars that didn’t make it,” Al said in another post. “This is so terrible. So so terrible. We must search and help the living. We MUST continue forward.”
