A Ridgetown couple not only gave refuge to a stranded couple during the severe Christmas storm, but also offered them use of their car so they could visit family in Michigan.
Henry and Kathy Vandergriendt offered their car so the Kitchener family could make it to a large Christmas gathering of nearly 50 relatives.
“As much as they showed their appreciation, they couldn’t hide their disappointment that they weren’t going to be with their family,” Henry Vandergriendt recalled Monday.
“So, I said to my wife, ‘Why don’t we just give them the car? We’re not going to need it.’”
Kathy Vandergriendt was already thinking the same thing.
“To be honest with you, the thought had crossed my mind,” she said. “I thought, ‘We got two vehicles here. They could take one of the vehicles and go have Christmas with their family.”
Vincent Suh admitted he was worried his family of four – he along with his wife Lem and their two sons Dajuan, 16, and Deshawn, 13 – would impede the Vandergriendt’s own Christmas plans.
“But Henry and Kathy – God bless them – they were so nice,” he said. “They provided everything for us. They were worried for us, and they went over and beyond.”
Henry Vandergriendt said they were happy to welcome the Suhs.
“It’s just the two of us sitting here for Christmas with nobody coming over because of the weather,” he said.
Suh said he was amazed the Ridgetown couple would offer the use of their car, especially to someone they didn’t know and whose own vehicle was stuck in the snow.
Suh said the Vandergriendts are not the only Good Samaritans who helped his family.
He said a young man by the name of Kenny “came from nowhere” and found them stuck in their vehicle on Kenesserie Road – a rural road in East Kent – and brought them to the warming center at the Ridgetown Arena.
Suh said the family was warm and fed and content to remain there until the storm passed. They were even prepared to sleep on the floor.
Then, he said someone at the warming center told them there was a family offering to take them in.
Looking back on the help his family received, Suh said, “It shows human warmth and kindness in practice.”
Kathy Vandergriendt is proud of how Chatham-Kent residents came together to help stranded motorists.
As for her family’s role, she said she didn’t think they “did any more than anyone else.”
Suh said word of the couple’s kindness and generosity even made it back to his native country of Cameroon. He said his father-in-law told him to relay the message the Vandergriendts are now part of their family, and they look forward to inviting them to their country.
“We definitely have some new friends,” Kathy Vandergriendt said.