



Thank you



Thank you

Jon Dale was seriously injured on June 2 when he and a group of his friends, known as the Gate Five Collective, were ambushed by fans of a rival MLS soccer team.Gate Five Collective is a wonderful group of Crew fans who march to the Columbus Crew games chanting their support for the team. It is a friendly march with a bunch of fans enjoying each other’s company and showing their support for the Columbus Crew.On June 2, the Crew were playing Toronto FC (one of our rivals). As the Gate 5 Collective marched over to the stadium, a group of Toronto fans angrily approached the group. This was a first – the group has never been hassled by fans of other teams. Jon Dale told the three kids with autism who are part of the group to quickly get behind the guys because the Toronto fans looked angry. Despite the Gate Five Collective guys telling the mob of Toronto fans that there were children in the march, one of the Toronto fans threw a punch and a fight ensued. The Gate Five Collective guys quickly surrounded the three adolescents with autism who were marching with them. My son, Jonathan, is one of the people with autism who were part of the march (he wants people to know this). Jon Dale made sure that Jonathan and the other boys were safe when the Toronto thugs attacked. This is the type of person Jonathan Dale is – he put himself in the way of harm to protect those who are more vulnerable..In the ensuing fight, Jon Dale was seriously burned in the leg by a flare (there is a picture below of the injury but be warned that it is graphic). He ended up spending 20 days in the hospital which included multiple skin grafts. The injury to his leg was serious enough that he has had to do extensive physical therapy as he essentially needed to learn to walk again. Since his release from the hospital, he was not able to work for 5 weeks because of the intense pain. He continues to do physical therapy.Jon Dale’s bills keep piling up and he was unable to work for 5 weeks. We do not know yet what his medical expenses will end up being.Please help us raise money to help Jon. Jon sustained these injuries protecting my son and several other adolescents when the group of Toronto fans attacked the peaceful march.PLEASE CONTRIBUTE TO HELP JONPLEASE SHARE WITH YOUR FRIENDS.