Brittany Mitchell feared for the safety of her son, Grayson, who lives four miles from the University of Mississippi campus, when Winter Storm Fern hit Oxford on Saturday, Jan. 24. His rescue, to her surprise, would come from an 18-year-old Oxford local — Ja’Marius Ivy.
“This year, (Grayson is) living off-campus, and he does have a car. But when the storm hit, of course, everyone was pretty much stranded, and that’s partly how we came to meet Ja’Marius,” Brittany Mitchell said. “My future daughter-in-law lives in RC South, and, of course, they barely lost power at all. And so I said to Grayson, ‘Well, we need to get you over there.’”
The Mitchells and Grayson’s fiancée — freshman art major Brooke-Lynn Hyden — are from Virginia Beach, Va., which is more than 900 miles away from UM. Brittany Mitchell, in search of someone to help transport her son to Hyden, found a recommendation for Ivy on Facebook from user Kamar Johnson — a friend of Ivy’s who helped him clear trees from driveways, as well as give rides on the hazardous roads.
Brittany Mitchell phoned Ivy and Johnson, and Ivy was able to relocate her son to campus on Monday, Jan. 26.
“I reached out to these guys, and they both responded immediately. And Ja’Marius said, ‘I’m sure I can reach his neighborhood. I have a big truck. I’d be happy to go get him,’” Brittany Mitchell, a UM alumna said. “I was a mama on a mission. I was getting my freezing child out of his house and back onto campus.”
It took Grayson Mitchell sleeping in several layers and seeing his breath in his bedroom for him to admit that he needed to get to warmth, and he said his two-door sedan was not going to get him there.
“He picked me up in his red truck,” Grayson Mitchell, a sophomore biology student, said. “When we were heading to the dorms on campus, we probably passed two or three power lines (down); there was a tree in the road. It was really gorgeous, but I was like, ‘Holy cow.’”
Ivy lives with his parents in Oxford, but he attends Northwest Mississippi Community College in Batesville, Miss., with aspirations of becoming a diesel mechanic.
Grayson Mitchell, 19, was shocked to learn that Ivy is just 18; he will turn 19 on Valentine’s Day.
“When I met him, I thought he was 21, 22. He’s 18 — he’s younger than I am,” Grayson Mitchell said. “I’m just blown away. This is just an incredible guy.”
While both Mitchells were grateful to Ivy for his kindness, it was Brittany that felt moved to recommend Ivy in the Facebook group Ole Miss Parents Chat Group on the same day. Little did she know, her post, across the chat’s 16,200 members, would reach almost 1,000 likes and create a local awareness of his work.
The post became a hub for other community members to testify about the work Ivy had done for them during the ice storm.
“He took my daughter to her friend’s house last night! She was resorting to sleeping in her car because it was warmer than her (apartment),” one user named Kelley Hall Curl wrote.
Ivy, who completed his services in a ruby 2014 GMC Sierra, did not anticipate the impact his kindness would make.
“I figured … ‘I’ll probably help maybe five people, 10 people,’ and then just call it at the end of the day,” Ivy said. “I definitely wasn’t expecting to miss 200 calls (from community members). It was definitely shocking; when they started happening, they kept on happening.”
Soon, Ivy was receiving so many phone calls that he decided to post in the Facebook group What’s Happening in Oxford, MS — which has more than 107,000 members — and apologize for not being able to meet everyone’s needs.
As of Tuesday, Feb. 10, Ivy was able to address more than 70 calls for assistance by himself and even more with the help of Johnson. The duo graduated from Oxford High School together, but they did not start off as the best of friends.
“At first … we (weren’t) that cool, but then we started to talk a lot. We ended up having a lot of the same interests, like when we ride four-wheelers,” Johnson said. “He ended up being like a brother from another mother.”
Johnson said Ivy is determined, kind and ambitious.
“He’s a really good person. If he wants to pursue something, he’s gonna do it,” Johnson said. “If anybody’s in need, he’ll put others before himself.”
Ivy was giving people rides on icy roads and cutting down dangerous tree limbs before power was restored to his own home.
“It just feels good being able to help everybody,” Ivy said. “You see other people help also, so you see the city all come together at once.”
In the same way that Ivy assisted the community when it was in need, the community turned right back around to offer kindness to him. He charged no more than “gas money” when needed, but he says the community came together to extend monetary tips to him.
“He just wanted to be of service, and I hope that it was probably a powerful lesson for him, too,” Brittany Mitchell said. “(I hope this teaches) that at his young age, that no matter how crazy the world gets and how negative social media can be, this is a powerful example of where it can be good and it can be positive, and he can be part of that.”
Ivy voiced gratitude for the community and hopes that he will cross paths again with those he helped during the storm.
“I’m just glad that I could help,” Ivy said. “I enjoy meeting new people, and I hope I see them again.”
