‘Stiff as a rock’: Heroic store manager saves homeless woman found frozen outside food mart during deep freeze

CBS News Texas reporter Trevor Sochocki opened his report with a question a lot of people were quietly carrying into the deep freeze: where does the unhoused community go when the temperature drops hard and fast?

Standing outside a South Fort Worth food mart, Sochocki explained that many people did find shelter during the storm, but one woman did not.

Sochocki said the woman stayed near this spot – near the food mart – through the night, in conditions that can turn dangerous long before the sun comes up.

Back at the desk, an anchor identified only as Steve reacted to the scene with a blunt line that matched the mood: it was “just a sad sight,” and he added that “too many times we see that in these conditions.”

That’s the ugly truth about cold snaps: they don’t just freeze roads and pipes. They freeze people, too, and sometimes the public doesn’t notice until someone is already in trouble.

“We Gotta Go Help Her Right Now”

Sochocki reported that the woman is known around the area as Bobbi, and that she was not a stranger to the store.

The store manager, Faris “Farris” Hussain, told Sochocki that when he heard Bobbi’s name, it hit him immediately because she was one of his regular customers.

“When I heard her name, it was one of my good customers,” Hussain said, describing the moment somebody came rushing in with the news.

Hussain told Sochocki he didn’t sit there weighing options or waiting for someone else to step up.

“I instantly was like, ‘Hey man, no, no, no, there’s no way—we gotta go help her right now,’” Hussain said.

Sochocki explained that another regular customer was the one who found Bobbi outside, frozen on the street, and realized something was badly wrong.

That detail matters, because it shows how survival sometimes depends on routine human connection – people recognizing one another, noticing who is missing, and refusing to shrug it off as “not my problem.”

“Stiff As A Rock”

Sochocki said that when it came time to actually lift Bobbi up, Hussain was the one who could do it.

And what Hussain described was not just “cold.” It sounded like a body that had started to lock up under the weight of freezing air.

“She felt like a rock, as stiff as a rock,” Hussain told Sochocki.

Hussain tried to explain the strange, scary physical reality of it, the way her body wasn’t moving naturally when he picked her up.

“I mean, it was – when I picked her up – her entire body was just… it was like, no matter which way you picked her up, her body was going to stay the same form,” he said.

Sochocki’s report didn’t need dramatic music or big words at that point, because “stiff as a rock” paints the picture in a way most people can’t unhear.

You can argue about policies and budgets and who should be responsible, but none of that changes what freezing does to flesh and bone when a person is left outside all night.

Warmth, Gratitude, And A Ride To The Hospital

Sochocki said once Bobbi was inside the store, things started moving in the right direction.

She warmed up slowly, and as she came back to herself, Sochocki reported that she began thanking people around her.

Hussain and others heard her say she had been outside all night, which made the rescue feel even more urgent in hindsight, not less.

Sochocki then reported the official response that followed: police and paramedics arrived and took Bobbi to the hospital.

CBS News Texas later confirmed the Fort Worth Fire Department responded to a call at Evans Food Mart between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. for that incident.

Sochocki told viewers they did not know Bobbi’s current condition, and that uncertainty sat over the story like a cloud, because sometimes the outcome isn’t clear even after help arrives.

Hussain told Sochocki he would share an update if and when he saw her back up and around the area.

That part is quietly heartbreaking: in some neighborhoods, the “recovery update” isn’t a call from a hospital. It’s whether someone is seen again walking near the same street corner.

Not A Hero, Just A Daily Habit

Sochocki didn’t frame Hussain as someone chasing attention, and Hussain didn’t talk like a man trying to build a legend.

Instead, Hussain told Sochocki he doesn’t consider himself a hero, even though what he did may have kept this from turning into a death.

“I don’t really consider myself a hero or anything,” Hussain said.

Then he explained the bigger idea behind his reaction, and it wasn’t complicated. It was basically: we help because that’s what you do when you live around other people.

“We just – we do this on a daily for our community,” Hussain told Sochocki.

And Hussain made it clear he doesn’t believe in rare kindness, the kind you post about once and then forget.

“Doing it once in a while, it’s not going to cut it,” he said, adding that at the store they do it “for our daily customers all the time, every time.”

That’s an important line because it flips the usual story. It’s not “one brave man saves someone.” It’s “this is what steady decency looks like when nobody is watching.”

It also raises a painful question: if a corner store has a daily habit of helping people in crisis, what does that say about the safety net that’s supposed to exist outside the front door?

The Part That Sticks With You

Sochocki’s report lands hardest because it doesn’t pretend this was a movie scene with perfect timing.

It was a deep freeze, an unhoused woman left outside overnight, and a moment where she could not get up on her own.

A regular customer recognized Bobbi and called for help, and Hussain moved fast enough to change what might have happened next.

Here’s what’s fascinating in a grim way: this wasn’t a rescue built on special training or fancy equipment. It was built on recognition, urgency, and the simple strength to lift someone who couldn’t move.

And it’s hard not to think about how close the margin was—how many other “Bobbis” are out there during a hard freeze, not near a familiar store, not known by name, not spotted by someone who cares.

Anchor Steve said it plainly at the end, calling it a sad sight and pointing out that we see it too often in these conditions.

Sochocki, reporting live in Fort Worth, showed why that line isn’t just commentary. It’s a warning.

Because when winter bears down, it doesn’t ask who deserves warmth, and it doesn’t wait for paperwork or permission slips. It just keeps dropping the temperature until somebody steps in – or until nobody does.