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>>Good morning from Interstate 95.
The sun got up about, I don't know,
maybe about 45 minutes ago.
I've been stuck just south of Quantico, Virginia
on I-95 for at least 15 hours.
I've been in the car for 20 hours
and there is absolutely no sign
that this is gonna change anytime soon.
Welcome back, if that was me last Tuesday morning,
trapped on Interstate 95 in Virginia,
after a snow storm, shut down more than 50 miles of highway,
leaving thousands of people stranded for 20 hours
with no help from state or local officials.
But amid all the incompetence of government,
you saw the best of people helping one another in a crisis.
One truck driver handed out spare bottles of water he had.
And then there was this.
Tell me what you're doing.
>>So, we've been looking on social media,
we know a lot of people have been stuck out here
for some up to 24 hours.
Me and my wife had been sitting behind
a Schmidt Baking truck, she contacted them,
told them the situation and the owner of the truck
told the driver to open it up
and start handing out food to people.
So, just trying to help out.
(chuckles)
>>I posted that clip on Twitter and it exploded.
It gave people hope that goodness still exists,
a fact we often lose sight of.
Once I got free from the traffic jam,
I reached out to John Noe, the man you saw
handing out the bread, his wife, Casey, the truck driver,
Ron Hill, and the owner of the bakery, Chuck Paterakis.
This is the first time they've all seen each other
since that day.
>>Hi guys!
>>Hello!
Nice to finally put a face to a name and a voice,
like Jim was saying. >>Yes.
>>Ron, is that you?
>>Yes, it is, how are you?
>>I'm good,
how are you doing? >>Hello Casey and John.
>>- Hi Ron! >>Good morning.
>>I'm doing well.
>>Yeah, so this is the first time, again,
all of you have seen each other, right?
>>This is it.
>>This is it, yes.
>>This is the four amigos, as they call it now.
(laughing)
>>Casey, describe for me what your experience was like
on the side of the road there.
>>Yeah, absolutely, so we had been, like I said,
we got on to I-95 South at about 11:00 a.m.
from Baltimore, and we were just stop and go
for hours and hours.
And so finally, when we did stop,
we were not 100% sure we're gonna stop,
I think I slept with my boots and seatbelt on that night,
but like anybody that was on that road knows,
that night was not very restful.
And so the morning we were still starving,
we were still thirsty, so he'd walked into town
to see if we could buy anything.
We don't normally just go calling companies
and begging for food, but he couldn't find anything,
the entire town was out of power,
but we just kind of had seen this truck and he kind of
made a joke to me about, oh,
how incredible would a loaf of bread be right now?
And so I gave the customer service line,
and I have no idea who I spoke to in the line,
I should have asked her name, but she was so kind
and then I know my mom also gave a call
cause she was so worried about us.
And I think Chuck had actually gotten back to my mom
and gave her his phone number
and she called me sobbing, just saying,
please go talk to this driver, this incredible man, Chuck,
just called me back.
And so I went and knocked on Ron's window and said, hey,
I think you're a CEO is trying to talk to you.
And he--
A little confused, but it all just spiraled from there.
>>When you ended up stopping completely,
were you stopped directly behind the bread truck?
>>Yeah, there was one car between us and the bread truck,
but even the pictures I have said to my mother
about the situation, you could see the pictures
you could see the bread truck in originally,
so we were staring at it.
>>And John, you're sitting there for all those hours
staring at a bread truck,
how long it had been since you had anything to eat
at that point?
>>We figure it'd probably been around 37 hours.
The last time we had eaten was Sunday night
because we woke up Monday morning
and it had started to snow that night.
And so our thinking was if we just get on the main roads,
they'll be better maintained than in town
and that once we get past the snow we'll pull off
and get something to eat.
Unfortunately, that was not the case.
(laughs)
>>Casey, that must have been torture!
You're you're sitting behind a bread truck,
staring at the back of a bread truck while you're hungry.
What was that like?
>>Absolutely, it was definitely not fun.
Those pictures, Chuck, those pictures are incredible
on the back of that bread truck,
but really they were just pure torture
at that point in time.
So I think by the time we actually got those potato rolls
into our mouth, they were the best thing I've ever eaten
in my entire life.
>>So, Chuck, how did you learn about what was going on
on I-95 and what John and Casey were experiencing?
>>I was contacted by Kim who took the call
from the call center and said,
I have a couple people that are on I-95.
Obviously I woke up.
I had a couple of drivers got stuck during this process.
So when I went to bed, I realized what was going on
and I couldn't believe to hear when I woke up at 6:00
in the morning that nothing has been moved on Virginia
and there was no one giving anybody any help.
So about 9:30 when Kim called me, she says,
there is a couple of people out there
and they're calling our website or calling in,
asking that they're hungry and if the truck had any bread
on the truck, that could we be allowed to open it
and hand out so we could feed people?
It's probably one of the strangest requests
I have ever gotten.
We are very involved with charities
and we've done a lot of things
and we do things as a family business,
we do things on demand, but this was a little bit strange.
But it didn't take me but a second to realize
if I was in that situation and I was staring at that bread
on that decal on that bread,
if that's the only source of food,
I would've done the same thing.
I would hope that the supplier of a bakery
or a soda truck, whatever that was,
woulda opened their doors and handed it out.
>>So, Ron, you're sitting in this truck,
you're stuck as well.
What was your experience like on I-95?
>>It was strange, 'cause I've never experienced
nothing like that, 14 years of driving.
And I laid back in the back of my cab and went to sleep,
I prayed, and I wanted to get out and give out bread,
but there's a protocol I had to take.
And next thing I know I'm sitting in my front seat,
Casey comes up to the side of--
I'm watching, I said, who's this lady walking on this ice?
And you know, she's walking, looking over at me,
and I'm looking at her and my side view mirror,
trying to figure out, is she just stopping here?
Does she need needs some help or something?
So when she stopped, I rolled my window down
and I said hello.
She said, hello, I have Schmidt Bakery on the phone, Chuck.
I said, okay, said, can you give me his number?
So she gave me his number, I wrote it down and I called him.
He said, we got a strange request.
The people out there are hungry.
Do you mind getting out your truck,
opening up the back and handing out bread?
And he said, well, what type of bread do you have
in the trailer?
So I got my paperwork and I looked, I said,
we have wheat bread, we have potato rolls, potato bread.
So he said, give out as much as you can, give one of each
and don't let 'em overwhelm you, be careful.
So I got out, that's where it took.
I went one way, Casey went another way,
and John went further, 'cause I'm a little older,
he went further down the ice up the hill and he came back
and we started doing some more
and I felt that Casey was kind of worried about him.
She said, ah, you need to get back in the car
so we ended it.
But I handed them more bread for helping
and that was the end of it.
I thought that was gonna be the end of it.
Then next thing I know,
I'm personally getting phone calls from Chuck
and there it goes from there, so.
I was glad I was able to help.
>>John, Casey, what was the reaction from people
as you were walking up and down 95,
tapping on their windows, offering them loaves of bread?
>>Everyone that we were able to reach was very thankful.
There was some families had small children
who were having an even rougher time.
'Cause most people that night probably got on I-95
expecting a 15, 20 minute drive
and here we all are some 24 hours later.
And then everyone was really receptive.
Some of the people near the truck as well,
as soon as they saw what we were doing,
hopped out and started helping as well.
And everyone just kinda came together
and was very receptive.
>>Casey, what was the reaction you were getting from folks?
>>Yeah, people were just so gracious, and we tried--
Or at least I tried to, I think John as well,
you can attest to whether or not he did,
but I just tried to greet everybody with a smile
and just asked them if they were doing okay
and asked them if they were hungry,
if they needed some bread.
I gave a brief, very, very brief synopsis
to a couple of people about where I had gotten the bread
so I didn't just look like a crazy woman.
But yeah, they so kind,
and some people were so very thankful.
Many of them were walking, getting out of their cars
to begin walking into town
and I was able to tell them the town was completely closed
and that they wouldn't have any luck,
but I could offer them this.
So people are just so thankful.
I've also heard some people wishing there was a beer truck
around, but I don't know if they'd have been as kind.
>>Chuck, one of the things that I like so much about this
and why I think it did take off was I find that in the midst
of a crisis, people are tested,
and the best of people comes out.
And I think that's what we saw here
and I think that's why it resonated.
Yeah, government may have failed
in terms of providing and helping
the people who were stranded.
But at the end of the day, it was others helping each other.
The folks on the road helping
and getting through this together.
>>And that starts strong with how you're growing up
and my parents and my dad who started the business
80 years ago with a little, tiny row home,
a brick oven in the basement of a row home,
instilled in the family and the children
that success is measured on what you give back.
And obviously this is a tribute to my parents
and to what they instilled in us when we were younger.
Our core values says it too.
One of our core values says, "Do the right thing."
>>John, Casey, I wanna talk to you a little bit more
about your experience because I hope you don't mind
my sharing this, but you're newlyweds.
You're fairly newly married.
You only were married in November, correct?
>>Yes, we were married on November 13th.
So this is our first real year together, so.
>>And this is an interesting early test of your marriage!
How do you think it held up?
>>Definitely a test, but we just played games
the entire time, listened to music.
We didn't bicker, we didn't fight,
we've gotten that question a lot.
I got asked once what I learned about my husband
in these 37-whatever hours.
I learned to keep him fed, so thank you,
Chuck, for that one. (laughing)
>>And John, what do you do?
>>I'm currently active duty air force.
Was stationed at Dover Air Force Base.
I'm actually getting ready currently to move to Germany,
to Ramstein Air Force Base,
but that was the reason we were on our way to North Carolina
was to say goodbye to family as we're preparing to leave.
But it was definitely, definitely glad we finally got there.
(laughs)
>>Ron, you said you've been driving a truck for 14 years,
you'd never experienced anything like this.
Any hesitation about getting back on the road?
>>No, it's my job, gotta do what I have to do.
>>What do you like about being a truck driver?
>>The freedom, nobody over my head,
and just going to different locations.
>>Jim, Ron also is a veteran,
and he also started his own ministry not too long ago.
>>I was in the army for 10 years, I'm a total disabled vet,
but I'm still able to work.
And for years I've been giving away turkeys,
given away bread, helping disabled kids, you know,
to lead 'em in the right way, buying them school clothes,
whatever they need, supplying gifts for 'em for Christmas.
My parents instilled in me to give.
My parents were givers.
And like Chuck said,
his parents instilled you have to do the right thing.
You have to treat people the way you want to be treated.
So, being out there, give and it shall be given back to you,
pressed down, shaken together, and running over.
So that's how I look at it.
I try to be nice to all mankind,
regardless of any situation.
If I'm able to help, I'm helping.
>>John, Casey, I'll give you the last word.
As you look back on all of this,
what do you take away from it?
What's the thing that you learned from this moment in time,
both about yourselves and about life in general?
>>Yeah, the one thing that we just keep talking about,
we just took away from this whole experience
was that humanity prevails over everything.
That we might have been having road rage
a couple hours earlier,
or people might've been a little grumpy or sad
or in a really tough situation,
but regardless just that people around us are incredible
and you can always find humanity
in even the most dark situations.
>>Truly remarkable.