Buffalo Man Who Who Broke Into School to Shelter People Gifted Super Bowl Tickets

A Buffalo man who broke into a school to help shelter 24 people stranded in the Buffalo Blizzard has been given Super Bowl Tickets by his hometown team. Jay Withey, the 27-year-old mechanic and hero, received the reward for his live-saving actions from the Buffalo Bills in collaboration with Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Legendary former Bills running back Thurman Thomas personally delivered the surprise to Withey. “We love you. We know what you did on Christmas Eve was very heroic, and you’re our hero,” Thurman told Withey. Withey says he is stunned at how widespread his story has gotten, sharing he didn’t expect it to go as viral as it did. “I can’t believe the amount of reach-out it got,” he said in the video. “I mean, I got thank-you letters from Australia. I can’t believe how far it got, but it was wild” Withey said.

Jay broke a window of Edge Academy on Christmas Eve in order to get 2 dozen people, including several seniors and two dogs, out of hurricane-force winds, snow, and deathly cold temperatures. He borrowed the academy’s snowblower to get people unstuck from the roads and into the school. Once inside, he found granola bars, water, and blankets in the nurses’ office, and gathered apples, juice, and cereal from the kitchen.

The group waited out the storm together and before leaving, cleaned up every trace of their presence. The school declined to press any charges, nor accept any of the group’s repeated attempts to pay for the food or broken window.