DALLAS — The North Texas area has been hit hard by multiple winter storms in 2022, causing some to lose power at home and others to get caught in precarious situations on the roadways.
The latter situation is where one Dallas woman found herself on early morning in late February.
But thanks to the help of another driver -- one she was much more closely connected to than she initially realized -- she was able to get to where she was going safely.
How Ade Sheppard's day started
Early in the morning on Thursday, Feb. 24, Ade Sheppard was finishing up her overnight shift as a caregiver. That week, North Texas roads had been especially treacherous, with icy conditions leading to copious crashes across the region.
Sheppard has been watching the news and wanted to stay off the roads to avoid a similar far. After work that morning, she planned to take an Uber from the home she was working at back to her place -- but her app wasn't working correctly that day, so she got on the road herself.
Soon after Sheppard took off on the roads, her car started wobbling and eventually spun out on Hillcrest Road in North Dallas. She suddenly found herself stuck, with her car turned perpendicular to the road she was driving on.
"I was terrified," Sheppard said. "I stayed there, and I just started praying for help."
It was a scary situation, with other cars spinning out around Sheppard's as they swerved to avoid hitting her car while driving past.
"It was dangerous because I was in the middle of the road," Shepard said. "I was like, 'Dear Lord, send a helper. I need somebody to help me.'"
How Adam Lampert's day started
Adam Lampert is the CEO of Cambridge Caregivers and Manchester Care Homes. He became an investor in Cambridge in 2014 before becoming fully invested in the business.
"These are people who are hardworking and dedicated to what they do," Lampert said about the people who work for his companies.
A part of Lampert's job is making sure his staff can get to homes they are working in safely.
So when this most recent winter storm hit, Lampert got up early to go see for himself how bad the roads were. He and his scheduling staff had to decide if it was safer to have certain caregivers stay put where they were, rather than passing along a following shift to the next person.
"We have our caregivers who are all over town working in people's homes, and we're trying to run multiple shifts," Lampert said. "We have to work with them to figure out if they [should] just stay in place because it's safest [option]."
Once Lampert got on the road, his car started sliding down the driveway before he even reached the main artery out of his neighborhood.
"I was ascertaining that it was not a good day to be out," Lampert said.
When Lampert got on Hillcrest Road near his home, he came across a car stuck on a hill. So he pulled off to the side and went to see how the driver was doing.
The driver was a caregiver who had just dropped off her kid and was on her way to work.
"I helped her navigate her car to move to a side street, and I drove her to her job," Lampert said.
What brought Sheppard and Lampert together
Once Lampert helped this caregiver get to work, he started heading back home.
Along the way, though, he found a second car stuck in the exact same spot.
Just like before, he parked nearby and walked over to the car to see how the driver was doing.
"And I said, 'Are you OK?' Lampert said. "She said, 'Well, not so much. Here I am, stuck.'"
That driver was Ade Sheppard. She didn't know Lampert, and he didn't know her. But just like he had with the first driver, Lampert helped Sheppard get out of this icy situation.
"He came by me and he held my hand," Sheppard said. "He was protecting me so that I don't fall. I think he has a good heart."
But as Lampert started helping Sheppard get to safety, she told him she had just come from an overnight shift and that she worked for Cambridge.
Yes, Lampert's Cambridge.
"And I said, 'You work for Cambridge?!?!'" Lampert said. "I said, 'I'm the owner of Cambridge!'"
With a staff of about 200 people and because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lampert said he hasn't gotten the chance to meet everyone who works for his company. And, with Sheppard being hired during the pandemic, he had no idea he was helping out one of his employees.
"When Adam came, I was like, 'Thank you, Lord!'" Sheppard said. "He did a good job. He did an amazing thing."
After Lampert dropped off Sheppard at her house, he ironically found a third driver stuck in the same spot as the last two. And, just like before, this was yet another caregiver on her way home from work.
Naturally, he helped her out and drove her to her destination, too.
Said Lampert: "Sure enough, in the very same spot, was another car stuck."
How their perspectives have changed since
Lampert said he has always had an appreciation for caregivers and the necessary work they have to do every day.
"These are essential workers," Lampert said. "These are people that are on the front line. They're going to people's homes, and people need them in their homes for their care."
Not only running into one of his employees but three caregivers on a day that was so dangerous to be on the roads made Lampert value these workers even more.
"It really heightened my awareness of what my own staff at Cambridge do on a daily basis to be there for people in our community," Lampert said
And, for Sheppard, she said Lampert's generosity and compassion made her proud to work for Cambridge.
During WFAA's interview with the pair, Sheppard paused during one of her answers and spoke directly to her company's CEO about what he did that icy day.
"So for that, Adam, I appreciate you," Sheppard said. "Thank you so much. From the bottom of my heart, I say, 'Thank you.'"