Drivers were stuck on I-95 when one saw a bakery truck. Soon, stranded motorists were breaking bread

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Inspired Life

Drivers were stuck on I-95 when one saw a bakery truck. Soon, stranded motorists were breaking bread together.



Casey Holihan, 23, with her husband, John Noe, 24, stuck in their car on Interstate 95 in Virginia on Tuesday. After spotting a Schmidt Baking Company truck, they decided to call the bakery to see if it would offer up bread products to hungry motorists. (Casey Holihan)

By Sydney Page
January 4, 2022|Updated January 4, 2022 at 9:05 p.m. EST

Casey Holihan and her husband, John Noe, had been stranded on Interstate 95 in Virginia for about 16 hours when they got an idea. ... The couple spotted a Schmidt Baking Company truck just a few cars ahead of them about 9 a.m. Tuesday. At that point, they estimated, it had been approximately 37 hours since they had last eaten. ... “We were starving,” said Holihan, 23, who at the time was at a standstill near Quantico. “People around us were very much struggling as well. We could hear kids crying.”

They decided to call Schmidt Baking Company in Baltimore in the hope that maybe it would be willing to offer whatever products were on the truck to hungry travelers. The couple knew it was a long shot, but they — and countless other people, some of whom were trapped on I-95 for close to 24 hours after snow and ice triggered an overnight shutdown — were desperate for food.

They reached the customer service line and left their phone number with a representative. ... “I didn’t think it would actually work,” Holihan said. {snip} ... What happened next stunned her: Just 20 minutes later, Chuck Paterakis, one of the owners of H&S Bakery, which operates Schmidt Baking Company, called the couple directly. ... He advised them to go to the truck, then instructed the driver to offer up two products — one package of rolls and one loaf of bread — to any person who wanted them.

“It was an easy decision,” Paterakis said. If he had been stuck out there on the road with no food, he added, “I would want someone to offer their products.”

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Ron Hill, who was driving the Schmidt Baking Company truck, was told by the company’s owner to offer up bread products to anyone who wanted them. (Casey Holihan)

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Hill delivers bread to stranded cars on I-95. (Casey Holihan)

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About 300 Schmidt Baking Company products were given away in just under an hour. (Schmidt Baking Company)

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By Sydney Page
Sydney Page is a freelance journalist based in Toronto who regularly writes for The Washington Post’s Inspired Life blog. Twitter https://twitter.com/sydneypage95