Wayne Gibson Special Needs Trust

Dear Friends,

On June 1st my brother, Wayne, turned 50. Until last month, he has always lived in Homewood. Wayne attended Homewood schools as a special ed student and graduated from HHS in 1994. As many know, Wayne loves the HHS Marching Band. He is often invited to direct a song in the stands at home football games. He can tell you how many tubas are featured each year! He also loves watching baseball games at West Homewood Park.

After high school Wayne worked for Winn Dixie for 11 years, then began employment at Publix where he bagged groceries for 18 years. For reasons related to his and our parent’s health, Wayne retired during the pandemic and began attending The Exceptional Foundation day program in Homewood full time in 2021. Even now, while shopping at Publix or visiting other Homewood locales, residents tell Wayne how much they miss seeing him at the store! He loves Homewood people and they love him. Our family is immensely blessed to witness this care and affection for Wayne every day.

In 2021 our father passed away. Our mom suffered a broken hip last spring and was diagnosed with cancer this past March. She has undergone chemotherapy and is now slowly recovering from surgery. Once healed, she will have more chemotherapy. Mom and Wayne are no longer able to live unassisted in their house in Homewood.

After months and months of researching special needs group homes and/or in-home help, completing endless forms, near-solutions, hope, disappointments, tears, and frustration, Mom and Wayne recently moved to a nearby senior independent living facility in Vestavia. Not surprisingly, Wayne has fully embraced the activities and other residents at his new home. Most residents already know Wayne and seek him out during meals and activities. As you can guess, a senior living accommodation for two adults is expensive and exceeds their monthly income.

While we are diligently pursuing Medicaid assistance for Wayne’s care, most available options are painfully slow to be approved and do not allow him to live with Mom, near the only community he’s ever known. Therefore, we have started this fundraiser to help cover the gap in Mom and Wayne’s monthly income and the fees at their independent living facility. We chose GoFundMe based on its low administrative fees (no higher than all reputable, secure fundraising sites), ease of use, and consumer reviews. All donations will go to Wayne’s special needs trust which can only be used for his living expenses. Any funds raised beyond our goal will support Wayne’s future living expenses and hopefully allow him to remain in a familiar and loving environment with Mom as long as possible. Our family appreciates any contribution you can make to Wayne’s trust.