Snow-place like small towns

There was no shortage of snow as Rawlins entered the New Year, receiving a total of two feet between the night of January 1 and the morning of January 4.

Fortunately, there was no shortage when it came to acts of kindness as well. From pulling vehicles out of drifts to shoveling driveways to clearing sections of the city, the immense snowfall brought out a sense of community.

“My amazing neighbors helped me dig out my driveway,” said Megan McComas. “I had giant drifts of snow almost four feet deep and they helped me by bringing over their snowblower and shovels. If it hadn’t been for them it would have taken me hours by myself.”

McComas wasn’t the only person who benefited from neighbors with shovels. Several Rawlins residents brought up Dale Anderson who, at the age of 75, has taken it upon himself to shovel out 10 driveways and walks everytime it snows in Rawlins.

“Dale Anderson helps out friends, elderly people, anyone that needs help plowing or shoveling every time it snows,” said Jazzy Medrano. “He’s 75 and still killing it. He’s amazing. He needs a Superman cape.”

Another person nominated for a cape was Ryan Thrailkill, who works for Blackwater Septic Solutions. Over the course of a week, January 1 to January 7, Thrailkill used his truck to pull out 125 vehicles around Rawlins.

“I wanted to do the right thing and help those in need free of charge to get them going again,” said Thrailkill.

Helping more than 100 vehicles did come with a cost to Thrailkill, though, in the form of repairs. After pulling out 75 vehicles, his truck took some damage.

“I put their vehicles before mine so they can be safe,” said Thrailkill. “It was worth it in the end. I got every one out that we hooked up to. My truck is out of commission until I get it fixed and that will be soon.”

Despite saying his truck was out of commission, Thrailkill would help another 50 vehicles before calling it quits. Tony Lamb also pulled people out at the cost of his own vehicle, running until 3 a.m. on January 4 when he broke his brake line.

Sometimes, it wasn’t always a truck that got someone going again, but a firm push. In some cases, it was a matter of “have snow shovel, will travel.”

According to Britney Prior, help for her came through the tenacity of Colton Helphinstine, a sophomore in high school who spent his snow days shoveling a path from Prior’s apartment door to her car. Not only was her car high centered on snow, but continuous snow removal operations had formed a significant drift behind her car. Helphinstine went a step further, finding a tow rope to get the car out of the driveway.

“I found it amazing that a kid who could be playing video games all day on his snow day is helping me from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. get my car out and didn’t even want money for it,” said Prior. “Of course I gave him some but he was very reluctant. He was just happy to help.”

Mary Kay Albrechston, president of St. Vincent de Paul in Rawlins, had a similar story.

“After this storm, I went down to St Vincent de Paul to retrieve the messages on the answering machine and to call each person that had called asking for food, to let them know that our volunteers were not able to get to the food pantry to pass out food, and that we would get back to them as soon as we could. When I got to the pantry, the front door had a 3 foot drift in front of it. I could not open the door,” said Albrechston. “I came home and posted on Facebook asking if someone could help us dig out the snow so the volunteers could get in to make food baskets. Within an hour, I had a phone call from a nice gentleman who said he would take care of it as soon as he got home from work.”

Albrechston said it was a perfect example of the motto on St. Vincent de Paul’s logo: neighbors helping neighbors.

Jacob Lucus, meanwhile, spent two days—five hours each day—plowing out sections of road. According to Lucus, he plowed Wyoming from Higley Boulevard to Jackson Street, Jackson Street and Washington Street and the cross streets in between before he ran out of fuel.

Local businesses also got involved. Abbey and David Ross, owners of C6 Outfitters helped move snow as did Mass Grading LLC. The latter cleared out entire neighborhoods in Highland Hills and Kilmary. In the days after the storm, Rawlins residents took to social media requesting the company clear out their neighborhood for reasons ranging from hospital visits to grocery store trips after several days stuck in their home.

More weather is in the forecast, but it is not anticipated to bring as much snow as the New Year storm. If it does, it seems like the people and businesses of Rawlins will be ready to help each other out again.