this is "nightline." >> tonight, blizzard of the century. >> this blizzard is the one for the ages. >> more than 50 inches of snow, hurricane-force winds pummelling western new york. >> i just want to say this is a horrible situation. >> killing dozens, and the death count still climbing. even the first responders had to be rescued. plus free stuff. as inflation soars, americans are feeling the pain, but some are saving thousands of dollars. >> the mirror is secondhand. the burp cloths are secondhand. the cloth diapers were gifted to me. >> a look back at what's behind the so-called buy nothing movement that's taking off. >> we're essentially giving away items, and then people can also

ask for what they want or need. and recess therapy. >> you're bigger, so you're worse for the environment. i'm small. >> we take another look at the social media smash that's made all of us corn-tastic. > i can't imagine a more beautiful thing. >> we go behind the scenes of a viral show asking little children big questions. >> did you ever get surprised by the kids' answers and you still get surprised? >> i have never expected what they said. it is always insane every time. >> "nightline" will be right badge. this cough. [sfx: coughs] this'll help. vicks vaporub? vicks vaporub's ...medicated vapors go straight to the source of your cough... ...so you can relieve your cough to breathe easier. vicks vaporub. fast-acting cough relief.

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good evening. thank you for joining us. tonight the damage from the historic holiday storm is taking hold. at least 51 people are dead across the country. more than 50 inches of snow battering western new york state, killing dozens. abc's mona kosar abdi is in buffalo. >> reporter: tonight in western new york, roads still impassible after what authorities are calling the deadliest blizzard in 50 years. >> in blizzard is the one for the ages. certainly it is the one for the century. >>. >> reporter: workers using forklifts to clear vehicles. >> there are cars everywhere, everywhere. it's pointing the wrong direction on roads. there is tractor-trailers. there is abandoned buses on roads. so it's a very, very tenuous

situation. >> reporter: this family watching christmas movies when their ceiling collapsed. >> as soon as the water started trickling down the wall, and we saw the bulging of the ceiling, i knew it was time to grab our bags and get out. >> reporter: shitara walker thankful for a group of strangers that dug her out in downtown buffalo. >> it's good to know there is a group of people still willing to help. >> reporter: more than 50 inches of snow, hurricane-force winds wind gusts and massive drifts that engulfed cars, stranding families on the road and in the dangerous cold. at one point nearly every fire truck in the city of buffalo was stuck. first responders rescuing more than 500 people, finding victims still in their cars, others in snowbanks. >> i heard him screaming for help. >> reporter: shikyra desperate for help after finding a man screaming outside her home. the man suffering from extreme

frostbite. autry unable to get through to 911, even trying the national guard. >> i can't do no more. i just can't have this man lose his life in my house. i did everything i can do. this man needs help. >> reporter: finally good samaritans coming to the home, carrying the man into the emergency room, and he is recovering tonight. officials warning the death toll will continue to rise. >> i want to say this is a horrible situation. this may actually be now more deaths than occurred during the blizzard of '77. >> reporter: with miles of through-way and canadian crossings shut down, wayne lockwood has been stuck in his big rig since sunday night. >> there are hundreds of big rigs stuck out here. >> reporter: christmas, what did you do? >> i was stuck here. >> reporter: families opening their doors to massive snowdrift. >> four feet. >> reporter: fueled by the coldest arctic blast on lake erie, massive waves encasing the shoreline in ice. the freezing tap stretching all the way to the deep south.

>> our thanks to mona. prices are skyrocketing nearly everywhere we shop. we revisit a growing number of americans joining an anti-consumerism movement called "buy nothing." they shared some of their tricks. here is abc's stephanie ramos. >> the mirror is secondhand. the burp cloths are secondhand. the cloth diapers were gifted to me from someone on buy nothing. >> reporter: almost everything in this california home is proudly secondhand. >> spot and wrinkle here to make their tv debut. >> reporter: she pays nothing for things many of us buy. >> bookshelves. >> reporter: helping cut down the cost of family life. >> all the clothes that the girls have, secondhand. >> reporter: much of it found on her local online buy nothing group. >> there is no exchange of money. it's just giving from your own abundance to neighbors. >> reporter: kat is part of the

growing gift economy, where members give and take anything from expensive items like furniture to food to dryer lint, which people use for their pet hamsters. no money changes hands. >> note 100% sure they're real wood, but that will do for the anniversary tradition, right? let's post the hammock. >> reporter: in today's unsteady economy, more people like kat and her family are looking for ways to save. >> these are really taking off everywhere, because of the way that our world is right now and inflation. people are doing it for a lot of different reasons. like the environmental reasons, the economic reasons. >> reporter: while inflation has started to slow, prices for things like food, cars, and energy costs are still up an average of 7.1% compared to a year ago. tell us about where we are right now. >> we're in a situation right now where polices are starting to moderate. that's good news. we're starting to see prices move in the right direction.

>> reporter: how much more is important than buy nothing in this economic climate? >> i think we're finding that by sharing more and sharing of our abundance that we are able to not only save money, but that money isn't being squirrelled away and not spent in the economy. people are spending much more mindfully and thoughtfully. they're spending on education, on their kids. but on more local options versus going to the big box stores. >> reporter: the buy nothing project was started outside of seattle in 2013. since then, it has grown to more than 6.5 million members who exchange goods in approximately 7,000 individual buy nothing communities. run through hyper local facebook groups and now an app. >> the main rules are that these are truly gift economies. so there is no selling. there is no bartering. there is no trading. it is literally a gift economy

where you are giving with no strings attached. and every gift has equal value. so you don't have to go to the store and buy anything. >> many say buy nothing has transformed the way they see the world. it seems like a place where you can really connect with your community, not just a place where you can get rid of the stuff you don't want. >> yeah. i think that people find a magic in this way of sharing. you can be a giver or a receiver, and the community is looking on. >> you can't hide from these hgher prices, and it's a great idea and a creative idea to think you can sort of live off the grid and avoid inflation. but there are just some things you're not going to be able to share or gift or get for free. >> reporter: kat's path to buy nothing began in 2019 when she challenged herself to not buy any new clothes for a year. >> i honestly didn't think that i would last two weeks. my husband didn't think i could

go through target and not bring home a shirt or something. >> we can put it like -- >> reporter: instead of giving up, it changed her life. >> before i was consuming so much more. so slowing down the rate of consumption and thinking first, do i even need this item in the first place? can i borrow this instead of buying it? can i use something i already have. or can i get it secondhand? >> reporter: she shares her tips on instagram, where her account the junkyard journals has more than 18,000 followers. >> let's go recycle this old car seat at target. >> reporter: if buy nothing runs counter to a pillar of the american economy, consumer spending makes up almost 70% of the u.s. gdp. >> before buy nothing, shopping was an addiction. i'd go to bed every night on any cell phone, scroll through amazon, out of boredom, shop, shop, shop. >> good girl. >> reporter: peter also says buy nothing changed his life. >> we're so programmed that happiness equals buying something new.

it was such an awakening almost, knowing that i didn't need to do that, that i could find joy and happiness from giving, just as much as getting. it's a fake fireplace. i got this for free. >> reporter: his new york city apartment is full of treasures he got for free. >> i got this for free on buy nothing. >> reporter: from furniture. >> i got the frame for free as well as the mattress. someone was moving and didn't need it. >> reporter: to dog food. >> this woman's dog passed away, and she gave away two gigantic bags. i got this mirror on buy nothing, this light. it's really telling me that it's not necessary to buy anything. >> reporter: since peter gets so many goods for free, he says inflation has less effect on him. >> i think not having to really pay attention to inflation that much because everything is free, it's its own economic system in a way. >> reporter: peter discovered buy nothing during the pandemic when his work as an esthetician at a spa dried up.

>> new york was shut down. so i didn't know what i was going to do, how i was going survive in manhattan. it was a tough time. and this community came together and showed love and showed compassion. >> reporter: the community also stepped up when he became a real estate agent last year and had to dress the part. >> i got an entire wardrobe for my real estate career. i didn't have many clothes to, you know, you got to look successful when you're in that industry. i got this from buy nothing. >> reporter: he says he's saved thousands of dollars. >> it's uncountable how much money i've saved. >> reporter: now what started out of necessity has become a way of life. anything he needs or wants, he posts on buy nothing and someone will likely donate it. >> i got this for my little princess sassy girl so she can go up the bed. >> reporter: peter takes joy in giving back too. >> i always keep this bagby the door. if i haven't used it in a few months, i'll give it away. >> reporter: back in california -- >> i can't believe we're finall!

>> h she can encourage people to live a little differently. >> there is so much that we have that we can share, a i think it's cool to see it becoming more mainstream. it gives me hope that we can shift more towards leaning on each other and using what already exists. >> perfect. >> instead of just consuming more, more, more. >> bye! >> bye-bye. >> our thanks to stephanie. coming up, recess therapy with wisdom from the mouths of babes. cleaning is the worst. seriously. there's gotta be a better way. so we gave swiffer a shot. if we don't love it, we get our money back! spoiler alert: love it! sweeper's heavy duty dry cloths grab dust and hair and lock it away, better than my broom that can push it around. it even gets into hard-to-clean grooves and grout lines! cool!

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tonight, we take another look at the heartwarming social media hit series "recess therapy," which has become the salve for our pandemic-weary souls. it features children providing life answers in smart and silly ways. here is abc's ashan singh. >> where do you think money comes from? >> look at this thing. i can't imagine a more beautiful thing. it's corn. >> reporter: children are honest. are you kidding? >> no. >> reporter: and they don't always hold back. >> did you hear the joke about the roof? >> reporter: no. >> never mind, it's over your head. >> reporter: oh! welcome to "recess therapy," hosted by actor and comedian julian shapiro barn hham where e asks little kids big questions. >> the idea is even someone as

old as me can still learn a great deal and listen to someone that young. initially i would bring kids subjects like happiness, anger, climate change, things that i was like how do i navigate this as an adult in the world? how do i grapple with these things. let me see if i can get any advice from kids. >> reporter: the series released through the company doing things immediate. >> has been a smash hit, wracking up over 135 million views on youtube since it debuted in april of last year. with some of julian's segments going mega viral from kids like dylan. >> i really like kimodo dragons. >> reporter: if you could talk to them, what would you say? >> i love you. >> reporter: and? >> i love you. you're so nice. >> reporter: the 6-year-old generating a cult following that had everyone appreciating kimodo dragons. >> are you excited about? "i like drinking blood." dylan, do you drink blood?

>> yeah, i drink it sometimes. >> reporter: stay away from me! or 7-year-old tariq, who really likes corn. >> i really like corn. >> reporter: the clip now taking on a life of its own. the summer of corn kid, spotting musical parodies ♪ ♪ the children. >> a more beautiful thing ♪ >> reporter: and even a chipotle ad. >> sour cream? >> no. >> corn? >> it's corn! >> reporter: we met up with julian as he headed to prospect park in brooklyn to film an episode. he was actually raised not too far from here. this is where you grew up? >> this is my office. i grew up coming to these parks, to these playgrounds, and coincidentally, they've become the set for where i film "recess therapy" which is really cool because i feel very rorr: ttbility to connect with everyone anywhere

helping propel "recess therapy" beyond brooklyn. this summer, the hype got so big, julian launched "recess therapy's" first national tour. >> what's up, folks? a very special "recess therapy" episode because i'm in toronto. >> in austin. >> we're in los angeles, california right now. >> reporter: using the opportunity to try out new styles and formats. >> this is the first time there has been music. ♪ in recess therapy, la la la ♪ ♪ la la la ♪ >> it's not just all about being sillily. the kids have a lot to teach us on topics like the planet. >> you're bigger so, you're worse for the environment. i'm small. >> reporter: love. >> is there anything that you love that's not a human? >> bacon. >> reporter: do you love bacon more than your mom? >> i can't choose. >> reporter: and even our time left on earth.

>> youa long azin lehe o. >> ikn.er tha yours. >> really? think i have? >> 20 weeks? >> reporter: what's the secret? because it feels like so many people our age and older have a really hard time talking to kids. >> yeah. be interested in what they're interested in. like follow their excitement. i find a lot of kids don't get a space to really work through their ideas. >> reporter: back at prospect park, julian is about to bring "recess therapy" to life. when you go out there today. >> yeah. >> reporter: tell me a little about the game plan. >> we're going to be finishing an episode that i started last week about icky feelings. so i'm talking to kids about being embarrassed and getting gro grossed out. >> how do you feel when there is a really yucky thing near you? >> i -- i -- i -- i walk away,

that's it. >> all right. you're goingk away. let's see. here is some worms. >> thank you. >> i thought you were going to walk away? is it embarrassing that you're doing this interview right now? >> kind of. >> what do you want to say to people who feel confused about why they get embarrassed? >> it's normal to get embarrassed. and that's it. >> reporter: while everyone seems to be wondering how julian is allowed to talk to these kids on camera, the savvy host has a waiver for that. did you ever get surprised by the kids' answers and do you still get surprised? >> i never expected what they said. it is always insane every time. i did an interview like right there like a month ago. have you seen the one where the little girl was talking about meditating and putting your hands on the curb. >> i want you right now to just put your handsgrnd. and just close your eyes. it's like you're connected to the earth. it's to

modern age. >> reporter: the idea is simple enough. asking kids about life and the world around them. but "recess therapy" is different. julian's secret sauce, prescribing childhood curiosity to cure the anxiety of adulthood. and it seems to be working. >> i think it is really important and really powerful and really necessary to give children a voice and to hear what they have to say. especially because so often the responses are laced with such positivity. >> cool! >> a child shall lead the way. our thanks to ashan. we'll be right back. ye cough. later chest congestion. hello 12 hours of relief. 12 hours!! hmmm, ok. not coughing at yoga? antiquing not coughing? not coughing at the movies?! hashtag still not coughing?!

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and that's "nightline" for this evening. catch our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here same time tomorrow. thanks for the company, america. good night.