(BUFFFALO, NEW YORK) – Sunday night (January 1st) a street-side memorial was held at the spot where Anndel Taylor, a 22-year-old Union Member represented by 1199 Service Employees International Union (SEIU), lost her life when the car she was driving became stuck in Buffalo’s deadly and blinding blizzard that occurred on Christmas Weekend.

According to a post on 1199 SEIU Healthcare Workers East’s Facebook Page, Taylor, a Certified Nurse Assistant, was described as a dedicated Caretaker to her residents who live at RCA at Aurora Park in East Aurora, near Buffalo.

As the blizzard raged, she found herself stuck in her car just six minutes from her home. 

The snow, whipped by winds of more than 70 mph at times, built up on her car, which prohibited her from safely getting out to get help with temperatures in the minuses.  

During that time, she was reportedly on a group text with her sisters in Charlotte, North Carolina, letting them know she was trapped and was trying to contact Emergency Responders. 

According to The Buffalo News, her last texts to her sisters said she planned to try to get some sleep while she waited to be rescued – and if Responders didn't arrive by the time she woke up, Taylor planned to get out her car, despite the horrific weather, and walk to find help. 

But on Christmas Eve morning, Taylor's sisters could no longer reach her and her family later found out on Christmas Eve night that she had died.

“It’s ‘hitting our Members hard,’ since others (initially caught in the snow on their way home from work) were able to get home,” Grace Bogdanove, who serves as 1199 SEIU Vice-President for the Western New York Nursing Home Division, told WNYLaborToday.com.   

A Go Fund Me Page (www.gofundme.com/f/tragedy-in-buffalo-ny-blizzard-2022?qid=ddc752932ff42acdcbc29492bf6eace4&fbclid=IwAR39uyH9tHxxpsdBhBultmwULC6q-eESi0PIpbR3jiYgbOPo2P9mTh87aq4) has been set up to help the family pay the cost of having Taylor’s body returned to North Carolina for her funeral. 

As of late New Year’s Day, $64,000 had been raised.

“I know there has been a ‘strong and incredible showing of support’ by our Members (who have donated to the Go Fund Me effort),” Bogdanove said.

Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation President Peter DeJesus, who also serves as Political Coordinator for 1199 SEIU here in Western New York, told WNYLaborToday.com that Taylor’s death was “unfortunate.”

“‘Anytime you lose a life so young, it is so hard to grasp,’” DeJesus said.  “It was a ‘historic’ storm ‘and there was no relief coming.’”

Both DeJesus and Bogdanove, meanwhile, heaped praise on the many essential and Union-represented Workers who gave of themselves during the storm that dumped more than 50 inches of snow in the Buffalo area over just three days and produced drifts of more than eight-feet-high that were whipped by winds consistently more than 35 mph, and some that were clocked by weather officials at nearly 80 mph.

“These Workers - Public Employees represented by the CSEA (Civil Service Employees Association), Emergency Responders, Hospital Workers, Police and Fire, ‘were thrust in action, trying to make sure people were safe with no relief and no relief coming.’  ‘They are the very definition of heroes who kept many of our loved ones safe.’  ‘You cannot put a value on the jobs they do in such a scary’ situation.  ‘They didn’t go into their professions to get rich.’  ‘They went into them to care for others.’  ‘In all my years I have never seen anything like this storm (here in Buffalo), but in one of our darkest hours, our Essential Workers rose to the occasion.’  ‘And they got the job done.’  ‘And when it comes to something like this, there is no better Worker than a Union Worker,’” DeJesus said.

“‘As always, I am incredibly proud’ of our (1199 SEIU) Caregivers ‘and the work they do - every day,’” Bogdanove said.  “They ‘came to work and stayed (through the blizzard taking care of the residents).’  ‘They didn’t get the chance to celebrate Christmas with their families, they stayed a work, making sure their residents were cared for and this is a consistent thing.’  ‘They always go above and beyond.’”

For More On This Labor News Story, Go To: https://buffalonews.com/news/local/i-kept-calling-her-and-calling-family-grieves-nurse-who-died-in-buffalo-blizzard/article_e1936b34-8620-11ed-9dc9-5b7f36dd2409.html#tracking-source=home-top-story