Etienne Bertie’s car started spinning on I-75. He was running out of gas. Commuters around him were losing it. Some cried. Others were reduced to urinating in their cars after hours on the road with no escape.
Bertie pulled off the highway and inched his way to a nearby BP station, only to find the station was out of gas. His drove away, his car began sliding again and he realized he had no choice but to ditch it. But then what?
He rolled down the window and asked a man walking by in burgundy corduroys, a white oxford shirt and dress shoes: “Do you know of any hotels around here?”
Conn Jackson responded: “I am housing people. Come stay with me.”
Jackson had already invited three strangers, stranded near the intersection of I-75 and I-285, to stay the night in his one- bedroom apartment just around the corner in Vinings. He wound up inviting more and more people he’d never met before — 10 in all.
This good-shepherd party started Tuesday evening when Jackson himself traveled four miles in four hours then abandoned his car on an icy road and walked the two remaining miles home. When he got to Cumberland Parkway, he saw a line of people who had also ditched their cars.
During the coming weeks, questions will abound about the response and handling of Tuesday’s hellish storm. Images of the city paralyzed by less than three inches of snow thrust Atlanta into the national spotlight, and not in a positive light. But there is another piece to this story and this disaster, something people who were helped by strangers will remember for years to come — extraordinary acts of kindness.
In this time of crisis, metro Atlanta residents stepped up, offering food, blankets, even their homes. People helped move stranded cars. Teachers remained at schools, turning the time with stranded students into big sleepovers. A “Snowed Out Atlanta” Facebook page launched during the storm and helped people get loved ones help. Almost immediately, posts about people mired in desperate situations were greeted with offers of assistance.
Jackson, 47, promised hot showers and a warm, dry place. He handed over his bedroom to the three women in the group. He and the other men spread out in the living room. Some snoozed in chairs, others on the floor. Short on blankets for such a large group, Jackson doled out beach towels and cranked up the heat to 78 degrees to ensure everyone was toasty.
The former investment banker, who is now a radio personality, exemplifies the kinds of stories he likes telling, those about people making a difference. He never hesitated in opening his home to people he’d never met before, never gave one thought to someone stealing his things or causing harm.
“To be honest, I was more worried about how I looked and having people trust me,” he said. “Especially the women. I wanted to make sure they felt safe and that they could trust me.”
Bertie saw Jackson helping people stuck in the snow and ice, pushing cars up a hill and took his offer. But before retreating into Jackson’s warm apartment, Bertie joined the efforts to get people up the iced-over incline of Cumberland Parkway. At one point, they broke away and trudged to a nearby convenience store to buy cat litter to aid in the task.
Jackson quickly gave his guests nicknames. Bertie, the 6-foot-4 man originally from Canada, was dubbed “The Big Canadian.” The man with a big blanket was called Aladdin after he used took his “magic blanket,” dusted with cat litter, and placed it under back tires to get people’s cars moving.
As the group piled into his 800-square-foot apartment, Jackson opened his refrigerator and grabbed whatever he found — hummus and vegetables, day-old spaghetti. They sipped sparkling water out of champagne glasses, watched weather news on TV, played cards and got to know each other.
Well aware he lived close to one of the epicenters of gridlock, Jackson also went to his Facebook page to offer his apartment to anyone in need. Lisa Ringenberg of Marietta spotted the post.
She was in her own precarious situation. Headed to her son’s school, her car started skidding. As a mother to a daughter with special needs and can’t walk, she panicked. “What will I do if we get stuck and I have my daughter who weighs 60 pounds and cannot walk?” she thought.
At the same time, her husband Daniel had just arrived from Hong Kong around 1 p.m. and decided to go for it, driving home from the airport. She was nervous, calling him every few minutes. And then he called: His car was just hit by a sliding 18-wheeler near Jackson’s apartment. Rattled but otherwise OK, he needed a hotel room. Everything was booked. And then Lisa remembered Jackson’s Facebook posting.
Lisa recalled Jackson from a story he did several years ago about her daughter Maddy and a fundraiser for her. Lisa sold used books on the side to help cover medical expenses. One day, Jackson called her to say he wanted to give her some books he gets at work and dropped off a carload of them at their Marietta home.
Lisa gave her husband Jackson’s phone number and the two connected.
“Initially, I wasn’t so sure,” said Daniel Ringenberg. “It’s a normal reaction to someone you don’t know offering you a place to stay. But I shook his hand and could tell he was a genuine guy. I got a warm feeling. You just have to trust your gut.”
He nibbled on some spaghetti and fell asleep easily.
“After 18 hours of flying, I was so tired, I could have slept standing up,” he said. “But really, I am just filled with thankfulness. It’s probably one of the most selfless things I’ve seen anyone do in a long time.”
Lisa was equally relieved.
“As soon as I heard he got to the apartment, I was glad he was warm and dry and safe,” she said. “And when I looked at the Facebook photos of all of the people (there), it was this group of people who were every color, size, race and it made it even more beautiful. It truly was Atlantans coming together to make a difference.”
Rebecca Ganguly, on her way from Cincinnati to visit her son in Snellville, arrived in Tennessee as it started to snow. Traffic came to a standstill on I-75 when she reached Atlanta. She spent the first night in her car, letting the motor run. The next morning, people were passing out crackers. She decided to try exiting at Cumberland Parkway, but the road was covered in ice.
“I was hoping to flag down someone to see if I could get something to eat and use a bathroom and Conn came along says, ‘I have 10 people staying with me right over there nearby but you are welcome to stay with us,” she said.
Originally from India, Ganguly she was comforted by the fact the Jackson mentioned other women were also staying at his place. Ganguly shared stories about living in India while others shared personal stories about growing up in the South and other parts of the country and beyond.
Thursday happened to be Ganguly’s 49th birthday. Just days earlier, Jackson celebrated his birthday too. So the remaining four still in the apartment on Wednesday nibbled on left over Oreo cookie ice cream cake. Jackson gave Ganguly his Superman birthday balloon.
As they said their farewells, they talked about getting together for a reunion some day.
Ganguly took the balloon, a token of a special experience, one she said renews her faith in people, makes her want to pay it forward.
“There is always a silver lining in situations and if you want a silver lining, it is this: Conn is the silver lining,” she said.
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