SEATTLE – As the son of a firefighter, Chris Kern knows a lot about rescues. So Kern, who operates an ACDelco battery marketer truck for Seattle Automotive Distribution Inc., knew what he had to do when he saw a young mother and her kids stranded on the southbound shoulder of the I-5 expressway. 
The mom had pulled to the left shoulder to nurse her crying, hungry newborn and accidentally ran down the battery while operating the hazard flashers. As (bad) luck would have it, she called her husband, who jumped into his vehicle to retrieve his family, only to break down himself.
She stood next to her car holding a makeshift “My Battery Died” sign while her newborn and another child rested safely inside the car. That’s when Kern, who was on his way back to the distributorship, spotted her and carefully made his way across several lanes of traffic to reach her.
“When you have a truck full of batteries and a stranded motorist needs one, what else are you going to do?” asked Kern.
The problem was, while Kern had a truck full of batteries, he didn’t have the necessary tools to replace the dead battery because he’s a sales rep, not an installer. “I knew I’d have to go to a store and pick up some tools, so I left a battery with her in case someone with tools happened to stop while I was gone,” said Kern.
By the time he was able to get off the freeway and buy tools, traffic was now at a standstill. Between the traffic jam and the precarious location of the exit, he figured it would be easier and faster to pull alongside the freeway. He walked down the exit ramp and maneuvered on foot through the stopped traffic until he reached the woman, still on the shoulder. No one had stopped in the 45 minutes to an hour that Kern was gone.
Kern replaced the dead battery at no charge and sent her on her way.
“I was not going to charge her for a battery after what she’d been through,” said Kern. “Besides,” he joked, “we sell only wholesale, not retail.”
Distributorship co-owner and Kern’s boss, Ted TeGantvoort, said he is proud Kern stepped in to help someone in need. “We’re like a family, and we believe in taking care of one another,” he said. In fact, Kern said he still recalls passing TeGantvoort years ago as he changed a woman’s flat tire in pouring rain.
In Kern’s case, the mom posted her story on the social media site Reddit with a photo of Kern’s truck. He said he was surprised at how many responders were skeptical of the story – even speculating it was a publicity stunt or that he’d likely lose his job for giving the battery away.
“That was a little disturbing,” he said. “Americans are about helping people. I’m recently married, and I’d hope somebody would do the same for my wife.”
