Truck Plaza Turns into Safe Haven During Snow Storm

Hitesh Patel opened his store for the night to help stranded motorists in need of shelter

​CHARLOTTE, N.C. February 18, 2016; NACS online reported that a Saluda, North Carolina, business owner went above and beyond to help families stranded in the ice and cold on Monday by turning his gas station into a safe haven, reports Fox 46 in Charlotte.

Two women, one who was traveling with four children, slid off the slick road and were stranded near Hitesh Patel’s Saluda Truck Plaza on Monday evening. Instead of closing his station at 10 pm, Patel allowed the families to spend the night in the gas station lounge. The news source writes that he brought in cots and a television.

“I saw one of the girls. She looked like my niece…so I said if that would be my sister or niece, then anybody can do it, so I said just leave it open,” Patel told the news source of his decision to allow the stranded families take refuge in his store.

LaShea C., the mother with four children, called Patel “an angel,” for giving her kids a warm place to stay for the night.