When you work in a prosecutor’s office, every day is filled with very specific details about very unpleasant events: homicides, rapes, and robberies; death, broken bodies and woe. It’s easy to lose faith in the world.
So when you cross paths with someone like Arquevious "Que" Crane – a person who's overcome the longest of odds and now spends his time trying to help others — it's a breath of fresh air. And when you find out someone like Crane, a paraplegic, needs to replace his oft-broken down van to get around and do more good, you set up a GoFundMe page to raise money in time for a very special Christmas gift.
That’s what Stacie Ehasz, Andrea Alabi and Sabrina Nizam from the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office did, anyway.
And they need the community to chip in and make it a reality.
“He is a representative of Gwinnett County and who we are today,” said Nizam, an assistant district attorney. “We are just overwhelmed by who he is and his fight.”
Crane grew up without a father, and his mother disappeared, quite literally, when was 12. In 2007, an awkward hit during a South Gwinnett junior varsity football game left Crane, a 16-year-old wide receiver, paralyzed from the chest down.
All he’s done since is graduate from high school and college, write a book or two, coach some kids and become a sought-after motivational speaker. He talks to crowds — usually kids — about overcoming adversity and tackling life’s obstacles.
“His positive outlook on life and just everything around him is remarkable,” said Alabi, also an assistant prosecutor.
Crane came into contact with the Gwinnett District Attorney's Office in August, after his speech at a local middle school was highlighted by the Gwinnett Daily Post newspaper. As he was being honored with the DA's monthly "community spotlight" award, Crane's grandmother mentioned the troubles with his vehicle – an aging van Crane calls his Scooby Doo Mystery Machine.
It’s unreliable, often broken down in one way or another. It creates a financial burden and a literal strain on his grandmother, who has to help load him into other vehicles if the van’s not working. It hampers his ability to do as much good as he’d like.
A replacement won’t be cheap – but that’s where Ehasz, Alabi, Nizam and the community come in.
The target for the GoFundMe page is $65,000. A few thousand dollars have been raised thus far.
“For them to do this, it’s just really one of those choke-up moments,” Crane said. “I’m just thankful that people believe in me and what I’m trying to do.
“Everything I went through, I know that it’s not for me. My pain and my troubles are for other people that are going through it. Them being able to help me and help me spread it and take it to the next level, it means a lot.”
The fundraising page can be found here or by searching "Arquevious Crane" on gofundme.com.
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