NEW YORK — Professional truck driver Jean-Carlo Gachet went viral Tuesday after a video showed him offering an SUV driver a hot Jimmy Dean breakfast bowl during the Interstate 95 gridlock. The interstate was closed for around 24 hours, from Monday to Tuesday, after snow and ice piled up quickly behind several jackknifed 18-wheelers.
By Wednesday, the Jimmy Dean company was offering Gachet a year’s worth of the brand’s breakfast, along with a generous donation of 100,000 breakfasts to Feeding America.
Gachet said he keeps the ready-made bowls in his rig and warms them with his on-board microwave.
“Us as truckers, we have resources; we have water we have food,” Gachet said. “Just knowing I could step out and lend someone a hand like that meant a lot to me.”
In an e-mail, a Jimmy Dean spokesperson said the brand “was inspired by his act of generosity and morning optimism.”
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