'We’ve become more like family': snowstorm 2022 reunion at Chatham Walmart

Stranded customers reunite with the employees who cared for them after a state of emergency was declared during a major holiday snow storm.

“It was an adventure,” resident Debra Donaldson says. Her car was stuck in a drift on Pioneer Line so she walked to Walmart for the bathroom and a ‘quick return’ on Friday December 23, 2022.

She would be the last person to enter the store that afternoon and one of many forced to find a place to sleep for the night.

“Just right over there in front of u-scans and I was on a mattress with a blanket and a pillow and I was trying to sleep I got maybe a little bit of sleep,” says Donaldson.

“I was excited about it. I feel like it (was) a once in a lifetime experience,” says Bobby Morton. Her husband Randy however didn’t feel the same. “No, I wanted to get home.”

The Morton’s and Donaldson were part of a group of 19 customers and 21 employees who were told they couldn’t leave the store around 3:45 p.m.

Chatham-Kent Police were in the process of closing streets as the municipality declared a state of emergency after a winter storm tore across Ontario.Highway 401 east at Communication Road in Chatham, Ont., on Dec. 23, 2022. (Source: 511on.ca)

As the evening wore on, first responders started dropping off more stranded residents to the store. By 10 p.m., all roads were closed and more than 100 people were inside the Walmart on St. Clair Street.

“There's no guide on this,” says store manager Judy Lagasse.

“Stay calm,” is the first thing she told herself. “And then look at the cards that I've been dealt. What am I going to do? And ultimately I'm going to look at it from if that were me on the opposite side, what I want somebody to do?”

Lagasse and her leadership team started making hot food in the kitchen, pulled drinks and snacks off the shelves and then went in search of entertainment.

“We had a little euchre tournament,” says Randy Morton. “And then everybody just stopped playing cards and started telling stories. There was no point going to sleep it was just too much fun.”

Around 10 a.m. the next morning, when the roads were passable and the group could leave, they left with an incredible memory.

“Ten times fold, I would do this over again,” Lagasse says even though she didn’t sleep that night at all. “I want to believe that no matter who would have been put in this situation, (they) would have done the same thing.”

Lagasse hosted a small reunion Thursday in the store.

The Mortons however great staff like they’re old friends.

“We became more like family,” says Bobby, who was thrilled to be a part of the reunion. “To bring everybody back together to reminisce about the experience that we all got to share. And,” her husband adds. “To give us the opportunity just to say thank you.”