Impact

I met Gregg Haxton not long after arriving in Taiwan in 2008. He has the habit of making an immediate impact, being that he’s a South African lighthouse of good cheer that literally puts the ‘Gregg’ in gregarious. He’s less a member of the expat community than he is an ambassador of it, which is especially welcoming when you’re a new stranger in a foreign place. So it was a totally different kind of impact that hit the community when he was involved in near-fatal accident in September 2010 – it was as if the spirit of expat culture itself had been ran over.

Shockwave

The news of his accident spread almost instantaneously, and a shockwave went through the tightly-knit foreigner network. Like any tragedy that befalls good people, it seemed impossible, but so it goes and the outpouring of worry and grief was immediate.

In my own way of processing the news, I wanted to make something that might help boost morale, so I tried to encapsulate Gregg’s spirit in all his pink-loving, Kaohsiung-proud, Pseudo-superheroic glory. It was to be a reminder to the legion of friends that this was no ordinary dude; if there was anybody who would pull through with flying SaFa colors, it was this guy.

Reaction

The piece was started and finished over a single night and posted to Gregg’s Facebook wall in the morning. Thankfully it had the intended effect, and was adopted as a sort of rally flag as Gregg’s friends and family charged into action over the following days, organizing grassroots “Haxstrong” fundraising efforts to get the big guy the support he needed to get back on his feet.

Having inadvertently branded this charge, I took to creating anything that was needed such as promo materials and a website capable of receiving donations, since crowdfunding hubs weren’t yet a thing.

It was a community rally the likes of which I’d never been a part of. Selfless people pouring their time, talent, and hearts into a common cause like this is a profound experience. A stark reminder of how trivial life becomes in the comfortable context of detached distance and/or big numbers, but how valuable it actually is when it’s one person a lot of people know & care about.

The Plesh Prevails

All in all, the Haxstrong fund was able to raise around 500,000NTD (~USD16,000) for Gregg. Thanks to some terrific doctors and his resilient spirit, he came out of his coma two months after the accident. With many more months of rehab, he was back on his feet, miraculously not too much worse for the wear, having traded an eye for a renewed sense of perspective and purpose. So grateful was he for the support that he immediately did what the best of us usually do: pay it forward.

Gregg inherited the momentum that became its driving force, turning a small fundraising group into a government-recognized charity with over 2000 members. I assisted with modifying the website to reflect this newfound community outreach mission and better embody the personality of the organization.

see archived site

Onward and Upward

Over the years that followed, Haxstrong became a central hub for foreigners in need, whether from accidents, illnesses, or other circumstances, a tremendous group of volunteers came together time after time to raise funds and generate support for anyone that needed it.