The family of a Round Rock ISD football player who was paralyzed during a game last year will receive a wheelchair-accessible van on Friday.
Jasiel Favors fractured three vertebrae during a Stony Point High School junior varsity football game on September 2, 2015, leaving him paralyzed below the neck.
Classmates and friends of Favors set up a GoFundMe account and raised money to cover the cost of a special van to accommodate his wheelchair. The fundraiser reached its goal of $15,000, but the family still had trouble finding a van in the price range.
As of October 2016, 202 additional donors contributed to the campaign bringing the total to $24,000, halfway to the cost of the van the family needed.
Wheeler, a locally-based construction company and building materials supplier, heard about Favors and reached out to his family offering to cover the remaining cost of the van. Wheeler worked with MobilityWorks, the provider of the van, to cover the remaining $29,000.
"Following the news and hearing about everything the Favors family has been through really hit home with us. Many of us have children Jasiel’s age and as a parent, you can’t help but put yourself in their shoes and want to do everything you can to help. It’s amazing to see how the local community has come together to support him. It was really important to us that we come together as a group and do what we could to make sure that Jasiel and his family have a safe, reliable form of transportation," said Wheeler President Brandon Smith.
RRISD officials, MobilityWorks, Wheeler and the Stony Point High School Principal and football coach will present Favors with the van at Stony Point High School Friday afternoon.
