Looking out one’s window in Buffalo today, you would have no idea that an historic and deadly blizzard that wreaked havoc on Western New York just a week or so ago was ever here at all.

The 80 mph winds that whipped up a blinding snowstorm and created drifts of eight feet of more in some places, left hundreds stranded, left another 100,000 without power for days, clogged city streets and local highways, and eventually claimed the lives of 40 of our citizens is now nothing but a bad memory - with green grass and temperatures in the 50s replacing what could only be described as a snow hell.

There are many to thank for the heroic work that was done during those days to save lives, restore power and clean up the mess, including hundreds of Union-represented Public Employees, First Responders, Hospital Workers, Firemen, Police Officers and Electrical Linemen.

The list does indeed go on and on and on, their stories told again and again by local and national media over those nearly four days during which our region was paralyzed.

However, there was one situation that came to WNYLaborToday.com’s attention via Social Media that served as a grand example of Union Solidarity and Union Brotherhood that would not be reported on by the mainstream media, but one that should nonetheless be told.

National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Branch 3 President David Grosskopf, Jr. was in his Union Hall out near the Greater Buffalo Niagara International Airport in the Suburb of Cheektowaga, a command center of sorts on that Friday (December 23rd) when the storm of biblical proportions began.

Thinking the predicted blizzard was indeed going to be a bad one and that he might be holed up for some time, Grosskopf had made a quick pit stop at a local 7-11 and “bought every ready-made sandwich and breakfast sandwich they had” before heading back to the Union Hall on Union Road. 

There he was on the phones, making sure his Union Letter Carrier Members were safe, either having gotten home before the storm cranked up or were held up somewhere in order to ride it out so as to not to put their lives in jeopardy by taking the chance of getting home for Christmas.

As the snow continued to pile up, that Friday turned into Saturday/Christmas Eve and then Sunday/Christmas Day. 

All the time, those snow drifts outside NALC Branch 3’s Union Hall rose higher and higher - to what Grosskopf estimated to be as high as eight feet.

When there was finally a break in the action, Grosskopf was able to get outside to survey the scene and quickly came to the conclusion that there was no way he could plow out the great amount of snow that had fallen by himself.

“My snow-blower ‘couldn’t do it,’” he said.

Then, out of the blue, a white pick-up truck with a snow plow appeared - or was it a knight is shining white armor?

“I had ‘no idea who’ this dude was,” Grosskopf told WNYLaborToday.com of the driver.  “I ‘waved him down’ and told him I’d give him ($100) to plow me out.  He asked, “The whole lot?’  I told him ‘I just needed to get out so I could get access to Union Road and get home.’  ‘Then, I started talking to him.’”

What Grosskopf found out was the driver - Matt Bagley, who lived nearby, was a Member of SMART (Sheet Metal, Air Rail and Transportation) Local 71- a Union Brother from the Building Trades, and that his wife was a Nurse. 

Bagley was out, trying to get to the local hospital where she worked to get her home for the holiday.

“I told him ‘I was a Union Member too,’ that I was President of the Letter Carriers Union and that I’d spent (2.5) days in the hall ‘and that I that I’d like to see my family,’” Grosskopf said. 

“He wouldn’t take any of my money (that Grosskopf offered to pay him for doing the work) ‘and for more than an hour, he worked clearing out the hall’s parking lot and making access down the street to Union Road so I could get out.’  I had told him, ‘Brother I have got to see my family for Christmas’ - ‘and he made it happen for me.’  He ‘broke through’ those eight-foot-high walls.  After that, he rolled down the window to say ‘goodbye.’”

Grosskopf posted a series of photos and short videos on his personal Facebook Page of the snow walls around his Union’s headquarters, Bagley in his white truck plowing out NALC’s parking lot and a path out to Union Road, complete with complementary commentary on the work his Union Brother was doing for him.

WNYLaborToday.com reached out to Bagley to talk about what he had done for his Union Brother Grosskopf, but he declined, only saying in a text message: “Thanks for reaching out.  You can do an article if you want.  It was just another guy helping someone, nothing crazy.”

Paul Crist is Business Manager of SMART Local 71.  He tells WNYLaborToday.com that Bagley is a “good” Member and wasn’t surprised by what Bagley did for Grosskopf.

“He’s ‘always willing to get involved and I’m proud to call him a Union Brother,’” Crist said.  “It’s ‘always good to help each other and our Union is better because of Members like him.’  ‘We all have to stick together.’”

Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation President Peter DeJesus, who was being interviewed by WNYLaborToday.com for another story, replied when told of what Bagley did for Grosskopf: “It ‘doesn’t surprise me.’  ‘They didn’t know each other,’ but (Bagley) put ‘we’ before ‘me.’  ‘It’s not surprising because it’s what Union Members do for each other.’  ‘They are part of something bigger, something that has become the norm.’  ‘The beauty of this is we all do it (show a helping hand to Unionists and the community at large) because it’s the right thing to do - in its simplest form.’”

Grosskopf, meanwhile, said what Bagley did for him is a “great example” of what Union Solidarity is and he said he plans on doing something nice to show his appreciation to Bagley for what he did, especially since it came during the Christmas Season.

“(Bagley) ‘could have said his wife was stuck at the hospital and that he had to go, but instead he cleared the lot and cut me a path to Union Road first.’  ‘You think Santa Claus wears a read suit?’  ‘This one was wearing Carhartts.’  ‘I am completely indebted to him for what he did.’  ‘God Bless’ Matt Bagley.  ‘He is one selfless kid,’” he said.

WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: Photos and Video Stills That Appear With This Labor News Story Are Courtesy Of Grosskopf’s Personal Facebook Page.