Shaunda Austin
Founder/President

On November 25, 1984, Shaunda Austin was born. Along with her mother and two brothers, she grew up in Richmond, Virginia. Shaunda was always the kind of person who really wanted to be a role model for everyone around her. From an early age, Shaunda would find ways to generate money to buy toys and food for the younger kids in the community. In order to raise funds to support neighborhood children, she would rake leaves, shovel snow, or provide child care to small children when she was only eleven years old. She developed a habit out of it. She used all of her spare time to educate young children on how to recognize letters and numbers. She made an effort to get to know the kids each day. All of the neighborhood's younger children adored Shaunda by the time she started high school. After picking them up from school and helping with their homework, she would take the kids to the park to let their imaginations run wild. She consistently gave the kids the impression that they could pursue any career path they so desired. Even though she didn't have much herself, she wanted them to know that their dreams and aspirations could come true..

Shaunda Austin: Age 4 years

Shaunda began studying business at J. Sergeant Reynolds Community College in August 2009. She started learning more about technology and computers. Shaunda remained involved with the kids in her new neighborhood despite being a single parent and a full-time student. She told the kids that now that she knew how to edit, they could make a music video to upload to YouTube or a commercial to submit to Oscar Mayer—anything they thought was possible. She gave the kids the final say. After deciding to film a music video, Shaunda constructed a song and dance and started teaching the kids the steps. They raised more than $600 in under two hours. After that, Shaunda bought each dancer some clothes and shoes. For a video shoot, she also styled everyone's hair. She even printed posters to include any children that was unaware of the video shoot. Despite using a friend's "Blackberry" cell phone as her only camera, Shaunda managed to execute the task. Once the video was complete, it was posted on YouTube titled “For the Kids” by Lil Keedy. This video gave the children so much confidence that brought an extreme amount of joy to Shaunda's heart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ep9b0phEGc

On April 19, 2013, Shaunda was driving through the Church hill area of Richmond. She approached a STOP sign. After coming to a complete stop, gunshots erupted and Shaunda was struck in the back of the head. Flat lining twice that day, Shaunda happened to survive. Doctors called her a miracle. The bullet was locked between the C3 and C4 bones, breaking three bones in her spine, literally breaking her neck. Although Shaunda was not paralyzed, she was unable to move and had no feeling in curtain areas of her body. When doctors told Shaunda she was unable to leave the hospital until she learned to walk again, she became determined to go home to be with her child. Shaunda struggled out of bed each night and would roam the halls of the hospital teaching herself to walk. Once the nurses arrived with the wheel chair to start the physical process, Shaunda wowed everyone with her extreme improvement in just two days. She was discharged the following day.

Shaunda Austin 4/20/2013 before the attempt to move or walk.

Shaunda was home now, assuming the difficult part was over, but she was confined to a single room and location in her home. She was told she couldn't take off the neck brace she wore, which held her neck in place. She found it challenging to perform simple things like writing and feeding herself, which she had been able to accomplish since she was a toddler. Her daughter was being bullied because her mother had to wear a neck brace, and she was unable to provide her with the required care. After a few days, her daughter was taken care of by her relatives. After that, Shaunda was left alone as everyone else went about their everyday lives. It was suggested that she employ a nurse, but her insurance would not pay for it. She promised she would but knew she didn’t have the funds.

Later, Shaunda scheduled a time to begin physical therapy. Doctors studied her discharge instructions and found that the restrictions made it impossible to continue physical therapy. Shaunda kept getting bad news, she received the news that the bullet was there to stay and never to be removed. She could no longer stand, bend, move, feel, or work. She had ongoing bills, which made problems worse, and she was unable to lift anything heavier than 10 pounds. At 28, she was informed she was too young to be approved for disability unless she had a mental illness, and after applying she was continuously denied. Shaunda became really depressed as a result. She got the feeling that she wanted to give up, that her existence had no value, and that her life became meaningless in a split second.

Shaunda was suddenly motivated to return to her original self and carry out the objectives she had established for her community after seeing people on television who had experienced horrific traumas in their lives. Aware of the challenges that lay ahead, she started to coach herself both emotionally and physically to get back to normal. She worked on using all of her muscles, writing letters and numbers repeatedly until she could hold the pencil naturally. She couldn't feel anything with her hands, but she could see that she was holding the pencil correctly, and she was able to get through the isolation phase.

Shaunda was eventually able to have her neck brace taken off after three months of strengthening herself and learning to touch without feeling. The bullet remained in the same place, untouchable, causing extensive nerve damage, although the bones in her neck had recovered. It was estimated that she would not begin to feel again for at least four years.

X-ray of Shaunda’s neck three months after the shooting. Here is where the bullet lies today.

In January of 2015, Shaunda graduated from Ultimate Medical Academy with an Associate’s Degree becoming a Medical Billing and Coding Specialist. Continuing to have no feeling in her fingers, she later got her first job since the incident as an administrative assistant at a behavioral health agency. Shaunda continued her positive activities with the neighborhood children by creating and assisting with other teams. She helped and assisted with fundraising events in numerus cities and states along the East Coast.

Easter (2015)

July 4th 2015

VCU Health Day 2015

Today Shaunda is the Office Manager and Medical Billing specialist for inner city mental health agencies. She is now founder and president of the Gifts & Grams Foundation which is a charity organization that creates inspiring, motivational, and educational events to raise funds for inner city schools, programs, and communities. The Gifts & Grams Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt foundation, and plans to succeed in providing miracles one day at a time to those in need all across the nation. Gifts & Grams will soon be introducing it’s Help with Hunger Program, The Born 1st place Youth Races, The Annual High School Mascaraed Ball, and The 804 BBO's (Local Black Business Owners) .