On Christmas Eve 2022, a figure appeared outside Sha'Kyra Aughtry's house, cloaked in whipping winds and snow, and calling for help. Heart took over logic for her and her boyfriend, Trent.

“He was at my door, banging," said Sha'Kyra Aughtry in a video taken last December. "He's outside screaming for help."

“I don’t know what to do, I feel so bad,” the video continued.

Heart took over logic for her and her boyfriend, Trent.

“The world now is a little different," she said, looking back. "You can't trust people, but also, at the same time, if somebody needs help, just jump in help them.”

That somebody was Joey White, a then 64-year-old man with a developmental disability.

“It was like having a newborn baby again," Aughtry said. "He needed a lot of attention. You know, the things that we take for granted, I had to do for him.”

His hands were severely frostbitten and for two days, Aughtry cared for him like one of her own.

“When he asked for fruit snacks, I had them," she recalled. "When he asked for Pepsi, I had it. Everything that he asked for, but the medical intervention that he needed...I had it under control."

When her kids made it home, after being stranded themselves, it became a true family effort.

“When they walked in the house, they're like, 'Who is this?' And I'm like, 'Well, this year, Santa brought us Uncle Joey.' And they're like, 'OK,' and they immediately just jumped in and just were kids," Aughtry recalled. "They didn't think about the toys. They didn't think about any of that."

But as time passed, things became more desperate.

“Y’all need to get this man some help,” Aughtry said in a video taken in December 2022. “How [are] you feeling Joe? Joe's ready to go. He [is] ready to go. He needs to go, because he needs medical attention”

Aughtry took to Facebook Live, even appealing to looters to head over and do some something positive.

“If everybody could drag TVs down Bailey and all this other stuff, or wherever they're dragging from, y'all can help me drag this man,” the video continued with her plea for help.

Thankfully, the call was heard by some good Samaritans.

“People end up showing up and they started to help me," Aughtry said. "[They] shoveled out the yard, carried him out.”

“We got you, Joe! See, you [are] smiling, you [are] my friend," said Aughtry in another December 2022 video as they headed to the hospital. "What'd I'd say, we're friends for life now right?”

She didn’t realize then how true that would be.

“We're just hanging out, just doing cute little pictures, doing memes," said Aughtry, describing her relationship with Joey now. "He likes Snapchat!”

She visits Joey every few weeks. The two are bonded forever.

“I know this is a hard time for him. It's, you know, wintertime," she said. "Even for me, even though I was the person that went through it with him, I think I like have PTSD about it because I'm like, 'Oh my god, I don't want to live that again.'”

Although it’s hard to look back on, it’s become easier over time.

“My favorite one is actually the picture of me and him on my couch," she said. "It was raw. It was like, 'Let's take a picture to show your sister that you're fine. That you're safe.' That's why it's one of my favorites.”

Aughtry was praised for her actions.

“This award right here was from Kathy, the governor of New York State,” she said, gesturing to a display.

The most important thing to her is the impact she made.

"I hope the world can just know that we have to be loving, caring, stop taking things for granted,” Aughtry added.

Joey ended up losing all his fingers and knuckles, except for half a thumb, but he still lights up when he sees Aughtry, something she thinks everyone can learn from.

“I think he remembers that more than just saying, 'Oh, I lost my fingers.' It was, I was nice to him, I treated him like a human being," Aughtry said. "No matter what the situation is, you just don't know... You just don't know how it'll make somebody feel, and what impact you can be, by just being kind.”

Sha’kyra and her family got many awards and trips for their actions. She makes sure wherever they went, she brought back a souvenir for Joey.

Now in a new house, she plans to dedicate a room to him and the experience they went through together.