Shovelers earn windfall from the snowfall

The snow reached his shins, and the orange gloves barely kept his hands warm, but Divon Wray was there Friday morning on Lexington Avenue, earning money with each deep dig of his shovel.

“I used to do this as a kid for money,” said Wray, 32, his beard dusted with snow.

The pandemic hurt his finances in the summer. He was laid off from his job at a construction company in the fall. But on Friday Wray would earn 50 bucks by the time he finished clearing off this snow from the building ’s entrance. And a bit more to spend on his three children’s Christmas wishes.

“Now that the economy is messed up and I’m out of my

job, I looked and said, ‘This is another opportunity to make money for the holidays and also help a lot of the people around here that don’t have the physical ability to do it,’” Wray said.

The mammoth storm covered the Capital Region in 15 to 30 inches of snow on Thursday, which was some of the largest snowfall totals on record, the National Weather Service in Albany said. The storm was the eighthmost severe in Albany since 1884, and for some, all that extra snow meant an opportunity to make extra money by helping dig out buried cars and coated sidewalks.

Wray was shocked when he woke up to see his neighborhood on Sheridan Avenue thumped with snow Thursday morning. He saw vehicles get stuck on roads and heard people grunt in frustration as they embarked on haphazard shoveling jobs. So Wray grabbed his own shovel to help out friends and family. Then neighbors asked if he could help them. They offered Wray some cash, and now the owner of a building on Lexington Avenue had hired him to clear the snow from the property.

Wray was happy about the work, but he was more excited about the potential snowstorm-inspired networking he was engaging in.

“One day I might need them, you know,” Wray said. “It’s been good to make connections in the community.”

Zaire Mayo earned $120 Thursday morning shoveling snow at four houses on Quail Street in Albany. Mayo said he does this every year during snowstorms to make extra money for the holidays.

“It’s a good way to help people, too,” Mayo said. “This year is a little excessive, more than I’ve shoveled before, but it’s not too bad.”

In a typical year, Mayo estimated out of 20 homes he knocks on in a day, eight say yes to the offer. He doesn’t set any particular price point upfront. Usually, they

work out a price depending on the size of the driveway and the amount of snow.

Down the street from Wray was James Anthony Farmer, an Army veteran said he had felt colder in his life. When he was stationed in Germany, ice encased his vehicle during a storm.

He was on his way to help Margaret Campbell,

a North Carolina native, shovel snow away from her car.

“The city don’t care,” Farmer said.

“It’s horrible,” Campbell said, nodding her head. “They knew it was coming.”

Farmer was walking around his First Street neighborhood with his shovel, trying to find people who needed help get

ting their car out. And if they tipped him, which they often did, it never hurt, he said.

“This snow is nothing,” he said, flinging large chunks onto a large mound.

He maneuvered Campbell’s car out, set it in park and graciously accepted a $10 bill placed in his hand.

“Time to see if anybody else is stuck,” he said.