Georgia gives hope to Gales family by helping raise funds for accessible home
In what seemed like a typical sports weekend at Stegeman Coliseum, Georgia had something in store for an honorary Bulldog to make it a memorable evening – especially for one family of five who quickly became the focal point.
Both Georgia and LSU trotted to their respective locker rooms after 20 minutes of action, and out came Devon Gales and his family – Tish, Teah, Donny and Dalen.
The Gales family was on hand to see Georgia honored with the NCAA Sportsmanship Award, which was granted in September 2016 for its the continued care of the family.
In front of a sold out crowd Saturday, Georgia flashed a text-to-donate graphic on its jumbotron to request donations from fans, which would be sent directly to Southern and its fund for the Galeses.
“I am so grateful for the entire Bulldog Nation and all of the love and support they have shown me throughout my journey,” Gales said. “They never cease to amaze me.”
At the half, with the fans at Stegeman Coliseum giving the Gales family a standing ovation, Georgia announced the text message effort with a video asking for donations to the number 706-204-1707. By texting "Devon" to that number, a $5 donation will be made to help the Gales family build a new accessible home. The drive has been termed “Build a Dawg House” for the Gales family.
The video featured head football coach Kirby Smart, support staffer Bryant Gantt and former baseball player Johnathan Taylor, who was paralyzed following an accident at Foley Field during his playing days. Also featured on the video were running backs Nick Chubb and Sony Michel, along with director of sports medicine Ron Courson and surgeon Kimberly P. Walpert, who performed the operation on Gales shortly after his injury.
The ultimate goal is to raise $500,000 to put toward the accessible home.
UGAAA Launches Drive to “Build a Dawg House” For Devon Gales Family pic.twitter.com/ChxTCZHyq6
— Georgia Bulldogs (@UGAAthletics) February 26, 2017
Donation efforts will be ramped up leading up to Georgia's annual G-Day intrasquad scrimmage. In addition, Georgia is enlisting the help of LSU, Miami (Florida) and Southern University to help with the fund-raising effort.
The idea to start a campaign was mentioned by Courson a few months ago, and with today’s modern craze with technology and text messaging, Gantt presented the idea of a text-to-donate campaign – thinking it would be easier for the money to be sent instantly – after seeing it at a Boys and Girls Club function a year ago.
With it being a struggle for the Gales family to find financial closure at times for the home, Georgia has intervened and displayed character of helping others that may not be directly within its program.
“It was really important for Georgia and it shows the type of family that the fans and those within the athletic association have,” Gantt said. “We’re in the business of helping. A lot of people think that we just help our kids and the development of young men and women to succeed in life, but it’s really more than our kids out there. It’s important to help the Gales family get back on their feet.”
Georgia’s athletic program has a significant following, and its hoping that these latest efforts will be enough to bring the home to the Gales family. At this time, there are no other current plans to help the Gales family as many of the university’s higher-ups are confident in what this could bring.
“We’re hoping that this is going to help provide the handicap-accessible house,” Gantt said. “We’re putting it out on social media page, and asking others to put it out on their websites. We’ll keep pushing it out, and hopefully later we come to a conclusion to build that house for Devon and his family.”
The campaign launch was termed as a “special announcement” in a Friday press release. Now, both Georgia and the Gales family will hope these efforts will boost the rate of fund-raising so more progress can be made in the coming 12 months.
Gales has now been recovering for 17 months from a fractured C6 vertebrae which was suffered after colliding with former Georgia place-kicker Marshall Morgan on a kickoff return on Sept. 26, 2015 – which resulted in Gales being paralyzed from the waist down and a continuous rehab process at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta.
Georgia has supported the Gales family as the lengthy therapy sessions in Atlanta continue on, and Courson, Gantt, former head coach Mark Richt and his successor Smart have offered to assist in any way needed.
Courson and Gantt were present to accept the NCAA Sportsmanship Award.
Being recognized on a national level, the NCAA announced in September 2016 that the university would receive the honor. It served as an opportunity for the family to show its gratitude for Georgia’s efforts, and Bulldogs showed a helping hand once more – giving the family a newfound sense of hope.
The current situation for Devon is a tough one, as he is in a two-bedroom apartment in midtown Atlanta with his mother Tish and younger sister Teah. Tish said that there is absolutely no accessibility in their current residence, and the two are “making it work.” It is currently suitable due to it being in a two-mile proximity to Shepherd Center, in which Devon partakes in rehab sessions in the “Beyond Therapy” program five days a week.
But now with a plan in place, Devon looks forward to how moving into an accessible home can make things easier for him physically.
“It will help me move around a lot more, with the type of equipment I need,” Gales said. “It would take a lot off of my shoulders and I wouldn’t need so much assistance with everything.”
An unfulfilled promise
One year ago Saturday, the Gales family made the trip from Atlanta to Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall to speak to an assembly of reporters to announce that Devon had been discharged from Shepherd Center’s inpatient program and discuss future plans.
After many within the program recognized Devon’s courage and Georgia’s support of the family, a small organization from Mansfield known as Triumph Over Tragedy and its co-founders – Reggie and Wesley Jones, who suffered a spinal cord injury in 1987 – stepped up to the podium and made a promise that they would raise necessary funds to build an accessible home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana once his rehab had completed.
It was a promise that brought the family to tears because it knew that funding a home was a burden, which was expected be no longer.
Twelve months later, it has been much tougher than originally expected and the Triumph Over Tragedy organization has ended its fundraising efforts with the Gales family. After expenses, the organization had raised only $47,000 which could be used for the home, and all that stands is a barren lot of land in Baton Rouge – which was purchased in November.
“We didn’t anticipate the fall-off,” Reggie Jones said. “We had unbelievable response after we did the initial news conference. We felt like we would hit the goal fairly quickly based on the initial interest. An overwhelming amount of the funds came from the t-shirt campaign, and we had reached out to a couple of corporations, and donations from larger donors did not come through for various reasons.
“After a month, we went from unbelievable amount of interest, and it fell off of the general public’s radar screen. We felt like the Gales family participated in an unbelievable amount of media interviews, and they focused on Devon’s story. If we had to do it over again, I think if they would have had more direction to talking to media about our efforts on the house. We’re a small organization, and this is clearly the largest project we’ve take on in our four-year history. We don’t get a lot of media attention banging our doors, and we didn’t anticipate the foundation not being talked about. No wrongdoing on their own, they focused on telling an inspiring story. We didn’t bank on those factors, and we felt like our efforts would be talked about more.”
The Gales family continues to be divided, with Devon, Tish and Teah “making it work” in a two-bedroom apartment in midtown Atlanta, within a two-mile proximity to Devon’s rehab sessions at Shepherd Center’s “Beyond Therapy” program. Donny and Dalen remain in Baton Rouge, in a home which was ravaged recently by floods that hit the state of Louisiana.
The family remains split and the trips from Atlanta to Baton Rouge, Louisiana are rare occurrences, and the day that the Gales are able to reunite remains to be unseen.
“I’m just glad to be moving forward,” Tish said. “It is unfortunate that it has taken this long to find out because I am ready to move on and get the ball rolling. I don't want to place blame on anyone but the ball was dropped somewhere and the only thing at this point that matters is moving forward.”
At this time, the donations have been streamlined through Southern University and Reggie Jones said that it was in the best interest to narrow down the duties to one organization, rather than many different charities trying to launch their own campaigns.
Devon is still listed on the Triumph Over Tragedy website, and national media outlets such as HBO and its “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” program have reached out to the organization to draw further exposure. The up-and-coming organization, which fell short of its expectation, will now alter its approach and interaction with the Gales family.
“While our efforts have suspended formally, we are still going to do everything we can to help give positive exposure for him,” Jones said. “For us, it’s less about attention to Triumph Over Tragedy and more about completing a house for the Gales, and that’s what we will continue to go.”
LSU to join Georgia, Southern in efforts
The timing of Georgia’s announcement is a good fit for the Gales family as the Bulldogs faced the Tigers out of Baton Rouge. Aside from the athletic competition, the two may soon be collaborating with Southern to help the Gales family.
LSU’s head athletic trainer, Jack Marucci, met the Gales family at Southern’s symposium in July and said that he is on board with teaming up with Georgia in terms of getting the accessible home completed, Tish recently told The Telegraph.
The dialogue has continued between the two parties since, and LSU had tried to collaborate with the Triumph Over Tragedy and donate the rest of the needed funds. Unfortunately for the Gales family, those conversations didn’t transpire after once looking like it would come to fruition in August.
Now, the three universities are beginning to team up, which serves as evidence that a major obstacle is closer to being overcome and Devon’s fight to independence can once again become the complete focus.
“It is overwhelming because they have taken time out for my son from the (Southwestern Athletic Conference) and allowed him to have an SEC experience,” Tish said. “We are so grateful to be associated with these universities.”
Rehab update
At last check in November, Devon was able to stand up with a harness and a therapist holding his knees. Since that point, the progress has been slow, but every small advancement is a significant one in the world of rehabilitation.
Tish recently added that his core strength is of high importance, and that has progressed along with further muscle movement in legs. Devon gave his latest update Saturday.
“I’m getting a little more movement from the knee and the hip,” he said. “It’s still slow but everything is starting to come in.”
The goal has always been for Devon to walk once again, and he has shown determination at any given time to do so. But as a former wide receiver, he showed desire to get back on the field once again, although a little lightheartedly.
Then with a bit more realism, he shows he has his plans clearly laid out in front of him.
“I’m hoping to play football again, even though my mom won’t let me. I’m going to try anyway,” Devon said with a grin. “Just have a normal life again, walk, and have my own family and make the best out of it.”
This story was originally published February 25, 2017 at 6:53 PM with the headline "Georgia gives hope to Gales family by helping raise funds for accessible home."