Wendell is a huge fan of Velocity Motorsports, a performance-oriented auto shop in Georgia, that specializes in Ford Mustangs. Shortly after Wendell’s 16th birthday, he started his job at a trampoline park, but after a tragic accident on his third day, he’s now quadriplegic.
When Jay at Velocity found out about Wendell’s accident, he launched a GoFundMe to help Wendell and his mother Christina buy a new wheelchair-accessible van. The WAV they were driving at the time—which they affectionately called “Hoopty”—had 300K miles on it and was constantly breaking down. Christina and Wendell were frequently making 4-hour trips to Atlanta from Alabama for doctor appointments; and someone had actually run over its ramp and bent it.
Velocity Motorsports has cultivated a thriving community on TikTok with over 500K followers. To help with fundraising, Jay donated a portion of sales of their promotional, limited release Christmas shirts. In the first 24 hours alone, the Velocity Motorsports community helped raise nearly $17K across 493 donations. They quickly met the GoFundMe goal of $20K and just as Jay was about to reach out to MobilityWorks for additional support, the fundraiser gained so much attention that MobilityWorks reached out to him first. With the help of Reece and TJ at MobilityWorks, Jay picked out a van for Wendell and Christina and kept it as a surprise for Christmas.
With the fundraiser having raised over $50K, Jay and the Velocity Motorsports team unveiled the new van to Wendell and Christina. Wendell immediately checked out the stereo system from his new place in the passenger seat. Christina thanked everyone involved and said that although they’d miss Hoopty, it had served its purpose, and she would pay it forward by donating it to a family in need. The final touch, of course, was a Velocity Motorsports decal in the back window.
We’re proud to say that Bridge to Mobility offered a final $5K grant to complete the fundraiser for Wendell and Christina’s new van. The last video in the #TeamWendell series concludes with a phone conversation with Bridge to Mobility’s executive director, Gerhard Schmidt. “A lot of good work by a lot of good people,” he said. “It’s a good deal for everybody.”
