Joey's Story as told by her parents - Bob & Michele Gay
On Friday, December 14, 2012, our beautiful daughter, Josephine Grace Gay, was killed in an unimaginable tragedy at her elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. Joey, many of her friends, teachers, and school staff members were taken from our loving community. Joey turned 7 three days prior to this tragedy and was looking forward to celebrating at her birthday party with many of these friends the next day.
Your contribution to Joey’s Fund enabled us to celebrate the love, hope, and kind spirit of our little girl by providing grants for families with children with autism. It was an honor to be entrusted along with the Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism as stewards of Joey’s Fund and in two years award 36 grants totaling over $130,000 to people with autism and their families! These grants were used to provide an adaptive bicycle, aqua-therapy, specialized summer camps, equine therapy, ABA therapy, college transition programming, and financial relief from medical bills for our families.
For more information about Joey's Fund grants, please click here.
It was sheer joy to award the grants to these wonderful children and families and even more exciting to read their success stories! With your continued support, we look forward to the next grant cycle of Joey’s Fund in February of 2015!
"We recently purchased an adapted tricycle for our daughter with our Joey's Fund grant and presented her with the tricycle on her 13th birthday in October as a special gift from Joey. She took her first ride right away under the flood lights in our driveway on the night of her birthday. Her sisters excitedly danced around her to see her ride a bike all by herself, and all the adults cheered as we wiped the tears from our eyes. We are hoping to take our first family ride together at a local bicycle trail. Come spring and summer, we are confident that our daughter's new tricycle will open up a whole new avenue for our family to enjoy time together and with our community. Thank you!”
In honor of our daughter’s legacy we ask you to please help us continue to support beautiful children like Joey in celebration of the precious gift she will always be to us.
Thank you for your continued support of our family and Joey’s Fund,
Michele, Bob, Sophie, and Marie Gay
Donate By Mail:
Send checks payable to:
The Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation.
Specify "Joey's Fund" in the memo.
Mailing address:
The Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism,
PO Box 2157
Framingham, MA 01703