Winnipeg cold spell: Good Samaritans offering free jumpstarts for stalled vehicles

Winnipeg’s cold snap is leaving many in the city stranded with cars that won’t start.

However “Friendly Manitoba” is living up to its name, with social media groups filled with thousands of people saying they are willing to go out for free and help anyone in a pinch.

Chris Mills, the admin of the Facebook group called “Get Me Out Of Here,” says he would regularly help people get their cars started or pulled out of the snow around the Elmwood area where he lives.

“There’s about six or eight of us that are in a group chat that we have on the group that try to do a bunch of them,” Mills told CityNews. “But people have been joining and just out there doing them themselves and helping out. It’s awesome to see.”

Mills, who works in concrete restoration, created the group to see if others would be interested in helping, and it’s now grown to almost 4,000 people.

He says there are times where calling on people in the group is faster than using services like CAA.

“If it’s a super cold snap, if you need a boost you’re probably not gonna be first in line,” he said. “There’s gonna be a lot of people that need help. If it’s something as simple as a boost or a pull out of the snow, we can usually take care of it.”

By Saturday afternoon, Mills had already done three boosts.

Mills says there are other groups, like 204 Rescue, which are also for people looking for resources to call if they get stuck or those looking to volunteer.