Donnie's Journey to Recovery

Whether you know him as Donnie, Rib Shack, Daddy or Papa - you know that he is a firecracker of a man who makes friends everywhere he goes.

Someone tried to take that spark away from us - but failed. My daddy was brutally attacked on 8/9/25 and has been in critical condition since. He is making progress but this is going to be a very long road of recovery.

He has 3 children, 5 grandsons and a whole community of family and friends that are devastated by this senseless act. His favorite thing to do is cook for his family and spend time with his grandsons. Even when life felt too busy and too heavy - he was here. He always hid a couple of dollars in my printer right before he left. ‘Printer money’ was just for me because “sometimes you gotta treat yourself not just take care of everyone else T-Bug”. I’d hand the ladies at my local coffee shop a $10 bill folded into a bow tie and they came to know that it was my ‘printer money’ from my daddy.

I am his eldest daughter. Throughout this nightmare of a week I’ve not only been by my daddy’s side everyday - I’ve had to think about the future. His job, his bills, his truck, his house.. as well as what the next months/years of his recovery will look like. Things as little as maintaining his home, paying his mortgage and accessing his insurance benefits have already proven difficult.

Any donations will go towards maintaining everything he’s spent his life building. So he can have a home to go back to and so that home will be accessible and safe for whatever needs he may have. They will also go to any medical and legal needs we encounter.

My daddy has always broken his back to take care of the people he loves - now it’s my turn to take care of him.

Thank you to the people who have already done so much to lessen the load and thank you in advance to anyone who feels led to help us.