ATLANTA, Georgia -- Building a new home is always fraught with doubts and delays. Building a new home for Devon Gales, the Southern University player paralyzed during a game at Georgia nearly three years ago, has at times seemingly bordered on the hopeless.
But now, more tangible than hope, there is a plot of land in Jackson County, just north of Atlanta, on which a home may finally rise.
As the group taking on the challenge to build a wheelchair-accessible home for Gales and his family struggled for months to find a lot that was both affordable and suitable, there came a breakthrough last week.
Turned out, all it took was a phone call to a former Georgia linebacker.
They got around to asking Whit Marshall – UGA Class of ’96 – if he could do something. It took him about two seconds to answer. Have the Gales family come out to the subdivision that the Marshall family company is building out and pick a lot, he said. Any lot. And Paran Homes would donate it to the cause.
Mike Elrod, the North Georgia builder who has volunteered to manage the Build for Devon project, was stunned by Marshall’s offer.
“I was in my truck, good thing I was parked,” Elrod said. “When I saw it was Whit calling, I pulled over and parked. His first words were, ‘Whatever you need. I’m all in.’
“It was tremendous. It was a blessing.”
CONTINUE READING
No comments:
Post a Comment