Waking up to snow falling Friday morning was a welcomed occasion for Gilmer County residents, and highlighted the importance of community.
Families took advantage of the days off school spending time outdoors, building snowmen, battling it out in snowball fights and creating snow angels.
Hannah Denney, a 6th grader at Clear Creek Middle School, said sledding down hills was her favorite activity. She soared through the snow on a 45-year-old, wooden sled given to her family by her great-grandfather.
“There were a lot of birds outside our house playing, and our pool had a bunch of water [freeze] in the bottom of it so I got to ice skate,” Denney added about her snow day experience.
While she enjoyed the snowfall, Denney is excited to get back into the classroom saying, “I like getting to play in the snow, but I think I really miss going to school.”
For farm owners, the winter storm meant taking extra time to care for their animals, while allowing them to enjoy the snow as well.
“The [weekend] was mostly about spending time with the animals in the snow, because it’s not a frequent event,” Marcy Scardino, owner of farm and AirBnB listing, Blondie Acres, said. “We stayed in, we prepared for the storm and didn’t go out until the roads were safe.”
The farm in Cherry Log houses horses, goats, pigs, chickens, dogs and cats. Scardino noted that hydration, making sure hoses didn’t freeze and keeping each animal sheltered were her top priorities.
“Most of them didn’t want [shelter], but one or two did,” Scardino noted.
Community members came together during a time when ice on the roads left some people stranded in their cars and homes.
Daniel Vaughan, a Coosawattee resident, and his girlfriend, Miya Clark, spent their snow days helping people get access to groceries and recover vehicles that slid off the road.
“I’ve got a four-wheel drive 4Runner… So as soon as we could drive around on Saturday, I started looking for people who were stuck and slept in their cars, and found a couple of those and helped pull them back on the road,” Vaughan said.
He explained that guests staying in Coosawattee River Resort started reaching out to cabin owners, saying they ran out of food and couldn’t get out. When the owners posted on Facebook asking if anyone could help, Vaughan responded.
After one encounter Friday with a man staying in a rental that couldn’t get snacks for his family in time, he said, “He couldn’t leave, so I basically had to split the groceries that I had with him so he could feed his family.”
That’s when Vaughan realized access to food was going to be a problem for hundreds of people. He posted on Facebook daily, reminding them he was there to help.
Vaughan and Clark even parked at the bottom of a mountain in Cherry Log where no one could drive due to ice, to hike groceries up to residents.
“Everybody is extremely appreciative and shocked that somebody is going around and purposely getting them stuff to help,” Vaughan stated. “I’m capable, my truck is capable, we’ve got nothing else to do so it seems like the right thing to be doing.”
Vaughan hopes that this storm shows people the importance of expanding their community with resourceful neighbors that can be prepared for anything.