CITY OF TONAWANDA, NY (WKBW) — Jay Withey, the man who saved more than two dozen people during the deadly Christmas blizzard in Buffalo two years ago. He was one of 1,500 people laid off by Sumitomo Rubber in the Town of Tonawanda.

“Last week they gave us a week of paid leave,” Withey said. “Then there was no news that any of this was coming… We had no idea.”

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Withey is also known as “Merry Christmas Jay” for being stranded in the deadly storm of 2022. He broke into a Buffalo school and physically pulled people in from trapped cars. After weathering the storm for more than 24 hours, he left a note for school staff, signing it “Merry Christmas, Jay.”

Withey told me last year that the people he saved were like family members to him. He also described his former colleagues at Sumitomo this way.

“It’s pretty close-knit,” Withey said. “It’s like a big family, but everyone is disappointed.”

Withey worked with his cousin Matthew Mondo and this “tight-knit” group to turn raw materials into rubber.

“It’s like a landlord kicking you out for no reason,” Mondo said.

She’s not sure where she’ll work next and is worried right now.

“If this was a Buffalo-owned company, this would never have happened,” Withey explained.

As someone who has risked his life for the people of Buffalo, he knows how the City of Good Neighbors can help during this difficult time.

“When you go through something in Buffalo, you don’t go through it alone,” Withey said. “If I can get in anywhere and help anyone find a job or use my connections to help anyone else working here, I will definitely do that.”

Withey was one of dozens of employees who gathered Monday to express their outrage and outrage over the sudden closure and held a rally-like gathering across the street from the facility on Sheridan Drive.