Texas couple invites stranded delivery driver to stay with them during storm


It's a delivery Chelsea Timmons won't ever forget.
Timmons lives in Houston, and on weekends she delivers groceries to make extra money. She was in Austin on Feb. 14 picking up orders, and planned on heading home after making an 11 a.m. delivery. Timmons thought she would have plenty of time to get home before the winter storm hit, but instead, while dropping off groceries at the home of Nina Richardson and Doug Condon, her car got stuck on their icy driveway.
Timmons called for a tow truck, and Richardson and Condon invited her to wait inside their home. After six hours, she was told because of weather conditions, the location was inaccessible. Timmons tried to find a taxi to drive her to a hotel, but Richardson and Condon quickly told her she could spend the night in their guest room — and also join them for a nice steak dinner.
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Because of the storm, Timmons ended up staying with Richardson and Condon for five more days. They ate meals together, and the family's dogs also befriended Timmons, spending the night with her in the guest room. They were lucky and never lost power or water, and the grocery delivery ensured that they had enough to eat. The weather finally cleared up enough for Timmons to get her car out of the driveway on Friday, and before heading home, she baked Richardson and Condon a coconut cake to show her gratitude.
Timmons wrote on Facebook that she was "blessed" to have been able to ride out the storm with Richardson and Condon, especially amid a pandemic, and called them her "guardian angels." Catherine Garcia
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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