Jay Withey, a New York technician, drove out into the terrible snowstorm that devastated Buffalo, New York, to aid a friend but wound up sticking himself. He had no idea that his tragedy would turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

On December 23, Withey walked out into the perilous blizzard but became stranded in the snow. According to CNN, he was at risk of freezing to death when he urgently knocked on doors in a Cheektowaga neighborhood, offering $500 in exchange for refuge from the harsh storm.

The horrible course of events is what has earned him the title of hero. “If one of those households had allowed me in, I wouldn’t have had this opportunity to save so many lives,” Withey subsequently claimed.

Withey, who is 27 years old, told his unbelievable story of how he managed to stay alive and how, when no one came to help him that night, he broke into a school to save himself and other people.

He slept in his truck with two strangers that night after being unable to locate refuge from the cold. The next morning, he and others were out of gas and so out of the heat. That’s when Withey saw the adjacent Pine Hill School. There were seven elderly people in the school parking lot who were also out of gas.

Withey shattered the glass of the school and walked inside, knowing they would all likely freeze to death if they did not have refuge.

Withey went out into the cold to hunt for more people who might need aid after turning off the school’s alarm and locating blankets and food for people to eat.

In the end, Withey took more than 20 people (and two dogs) inside, and they hunkered down in the school with Withey on Christmas Eve and most of Christmas Day, grateful for the refuge from a record-breaking storm that killed more than 40 lives.

After cleaning up and utilizing the school’s snowblowers to clear the snow off his (and others’) cars, Withey left a note to the school apologizing for the break-in, stating, “I had to do it to rescue everyone.”

The Cheektowaga Police Department later posted surveillance photographs and Jay’s message on Facebook, asking for assistance in identifying him. “We want to identify e De and have him honored for his above-and-beyond acts that saved lives,” they wrote. And that is just what they did.

The encounter has brought the group of strangers closer together. The department also posted a photo of some of the people who sought safety inside the school, along with the caption, “Jay stated they are all now like family and organizing a SUMMER get-together.”

“I hope people understand it’s vital to be kind and to do the right thing to support one another,” Jay told NBC News.