Donna and Trey Shepherd share a moment. The Shepherds will be guests of honor at Mayor Dave Fried’s State of the Township address April 1. (Photo courtesy of Michael Lanza Films.)
By Alissa Ambrose
Twice a week, Robbinsville resident Donna Shepherd lifts her 14-year-old son Trey out of his wheelchair and into their silver Kia Sedona minivan to head to physical therapy.
They repeat the routine anytime they need to go to the store, attend church or visit the doctor. It’s a tiring ritual that makes spontaneous family trips out of the question.
“It has to be a plan, a full-fledged plan,” Donna said.
Immanuel “Trey” Shepherd has spina bifida, a birth defect that affects the development of the spinal column. He has been in a wheelchair on and off his entire life, and full-time since last year, which has made getting around town a major challenge. But that may be about to change.
The Robbinsville community is raising funds for a specialized van for Trey, which would provide a safe and accessible means of transport for him and his family. Robbinsville mayor Dave Fried is leading the efforts and will host the Shepherd family as the guests of honor at his upcoming State of the Township address April 1.
The annual event will be held as a formal benefit dinner at the Hilton Garden Inn with ticket sales designated to help purchase a customized wheelchair accessible van for the Shepherd family. The theme of the evening will be “Paying it Forward.” Tickets for the April 1 event cost $100 per person. Fried’s address will be posted online in full, and videotaped for residents who are unable to attend the benefit dinner.
Trey is an active boy with a passion for tablet games, archery and foreign languages. With his quick sense of humor and bright smile, it is easy to forget how much he has endured in his short life.
“One of the things I always tell Trey is that he is a miracle baby,” Donna Shepherd said.
While pregnant, doctors told Donna that Trey would likely never be able to speak or function much at all. Since his birth in March 2001, Trey has undergone seven major surgeries, beginning when he was just 2-days old. The most recent procedure, a spinal surgery this past fall, left Trey wheelchair bound full-time.
Despite his initial prognosis, Trey has defied odds and lives a well-rounded life with the enduring support of his parents and community. The Pond Road Middle School 8th grader has a close-knit group of friends and spends his summers at Liberty Lakes Day Camp in Bordentown.
The young Robbinsville resident made an impression on Fried when he came to visit Trey’s classroom last year.
“He is just such a nice kid,” Fried said. “He is a kid that has really been through a lot and has every reason and every right to be a little mad at the world, and he is just the opposite … it really warms your heart when you see people that have been through so much and still have such a positive attitude and outlook on everything.”
This is not the first time that the community has tried to get Trey a van. Last year, the Shepherds entered Trey in a contest to win a van as part of National Mobility Awareness Month. Trey received more than 7,000 votes from supporters in Robbinsville, including Fried, but did not take the top prize.
It was this contest that gave the mayor the idea to dedicate the State of the Township address to helping the Shepherd family.
Having an accessible van would allow Trey to wheel himself directly into the vehicle, which would be safer for him and his mother. His father, Jay, is not able to lift Trey because of a back injury. It would also allow the Shepherds, who have two other sons, aged 1 and 20, to travel together on family outings. A van that would suit Trey’s needs would cost in the tens of thousands of dollars, a prohibitive price for the family which has relied solely on Donna’s income since Jay lost his IT job in 2011.
“It would make it so much easier, the accessibility of it,” Jay Shepherd said. “It would be a huge help.”
Having a van would allow the family to do much more, Donna said. She said she hopes to bring Trey on more outings to the store and laundromat, so she can teach him life skills for his future. Trey wants to visit the shore, where he can taste some funnel cake, build sandcastles and feel “the wind blowing in my hair,” he jokes, referring to his closely cropped hairstyle.
Fundraising efforts, including a GoFundMe campaign, have been coordinated by ONE Project, a Robbinsville-based non-profit, and have so far raised more than $10,000 for the Shepherd family. Fried said he is very confident that Robbinsville will be able to raise enough to get the Shepherds on the road this spring.
“This is something that I feel really really good about,” Fried said. “I am glad that we are going to be able to help this family.”
The Shepherds will be in attendance at the benefit and are touched by the support they have felt from others in Robbinsville.
“Robbinsville is like a big family … they really come together,” Jay Shepherd said.
“It really meant a lot that the community cared that much,” Donna added.
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