The phone rang at Ellen Gregory’s home at 10:30 on the night of July 13, 2015. It was a call from a friend in Alabama, who urgently needed her help.
Gregory owns New Prospect Farm, a hunter/jumper training facility in New Hope. In addition to her work as a trainer, Gregory also has a history of rescuing maltreated horses.
That was the reason her friend was calling.
“She said the police in Livingston, Alabama, had just seized two horses in an animal cruelty case and they were desperate to find someone to take them in” Gregory said. “So I said, ‘OK, bring them over.'”
They arrived at 1:30 a.m., but it wasn’t until daybreak that Gregory realized just how grave the situation was for the two horses, which she named Thetis and Achilles.
“They were virtually starving and in real bad shape,” she said.
She summoned her veterinarian to inspect the horses. Thetis, the older of the two, was in such bad shape he had to be euthanized. Achilles wasn’t much better.
In addition to his emaciated condition, a rope halter had been left on him for so long – years, most likely – that it had been embedded in the horse’s muzzle down to the bone. When the harness was cut away, the wound was filled with maggots. There was also a deep, untreated gash on one of Achilles’ forelegs.
The treatment would be long. It would also be costly.
“I hadn’t been expecting to do a rescue at that point, but this was a dire emergency,” Gregory said.
To raise the funds needed, Gregory became one of 670 people in the Golden Triangle to turn to the crowd-funding website GoFundMe since the site was founded six years ago.
“I had never tried it before,” Gregory said. “But I decided to give it a shot.”
A $3 billion milestone
California-based GoFundMe recently reached a significant milestone – $3 billion in donations. It keeps 7.9 percent of the donation total for processing and operations fees.
The site generated more than $7.5 million for victims’ families of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, and more than $11 million for Louisiana flood victims.
But most campaigns are smaller, more personal, efforts.
To note the milestone, the company compiled data on how its campaigns have generated money in each state.
According to its data, Mississippians have started more than 17,000 GoFundMe campaigns, raising $12.3 million from nearly 195,000 total donations.
“Whether it’s a small business owner standing for equal rights, raising money to support your neighbors affected by the floods, or feeding the homeless population, folks in Mississippi routinely step up. There have been millions of dollars donated to thousands of GoFundMe campaigns to generously help their friends, family, and local communities during times of need,” GoFundMe CEO Rob Solomon said in a statement.
Here in the Golden Triangle, the 670 GoFundMe campaigns have generated $614,000 donations from 9,500 contributors since 2010.
Of those campaigns, none have been more successful than “Hope for the Gentrys,” which has raised more than $135,000.
That campaign started the day after a tragic automobile accident on Highway 82 on Nov. 6, 2015.
John Gentry and his three sons were victims in the crash. The father died at the scene while 11-year-old J.D. died two days later. Josh, 6, spent months in the hospital while Jack, 9, sustained only minor injuries.
A GoFundMe campaign was started on behalf of the Starkville family a few days after the accident. In its first 10 days, it raised about $115,000.
Stories of tragic loss, and the support that quickly envelopes the victims, has been a point of pride for GoFundMe.
“You can start campaigns for just about anything,” said company spokesman Kate Cichy. “But we really created this platform for people who need help quickly. You can put together a campaign in a matter of minutes, which is important in an emergency situation.”
Not all campaigns generate the kind of donations as Hope for the Gentrys, though.
On average, the GoFundMe campaign in the Golden Triangle average a little more than $900 with an average single donation of $64.
Some are more successful than others – reaching or exceeding their goals or falling well short.
Cichy said the success of any campaign relies on a number of factors. Because the campaign relies heavily on social media to get the word out, the bigger the network of social media friends a campaign organizer has, the greater the exposure to the cause.
But there are other ways campaign organizers can improve their chances, Cichy said.
“I think it’s important for people who are starting their campaigns to really think about what they want to say on their campaign page,” she said. “We encourage everyone to be as transparent as possible. What are the funds for? How will they be spent?
“We also have found that it’s really important to provide updates as frequently as possible,” she added. “Using photos helps, too. The idea is to keep the campaign active and circulating through social media. When you make a donation, you can share it to your Facebook page, which also keeps the message circulating.”
Happy endings
Soon after her vet examined the two rescue horses, Gregory got on her computer and started a GoFundMe campaign, “Saving Achilles and Thetis!”
She really didn’t know what would come of it.
“I was so surprised,” she said. “By the next morning, we already had $75 and the donations kept coming in.”
The campaign ultimately raised $1,200.
“The GoFundMe money was a huge help, a blessing,” Gregory said.
Today, Achilles is fully recovered.
He’s fat and happy and living on a farm north of Birmingham, Alabama, Gregory said.
“You know, that was the first time I had used GoFundMe, but after receiving the support that I received, I’ve donated to other campaigns,” she said. “You have to use good judgment. There are some campaigns that have no business being on there. But when you look through their website, you can see people in your own community that really need help. I think it’s a great idea.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.