Officials of the Moultrie Moose Lodge present a check to Thomas Buckland, father of shooting victim Sherrie Buckland, Tuesday at the lodge. From left are Moultrie Moose Lodge Senior Regent Kathy Bennett; Ann Chambers, secretary for the Women of the Moose; Thomas Buckland; Moose Lodge President Jay White; Moose Lodge member Stephan Payne; and Cindy Baker, president of Moose District 4.

MOULTRIE, Ga. — The Moultrie Moose Lodge 1158 presented a check of $7,300 to the father of Sherrie Buckland in a small gathering Tuesday morning. 

Buckland, of Norman Park, continues to recover at the Shepherd Center Atlanta Brain and Spinal Cord Injury after she was shot on Feb. 25 at the Hampton Inn off Veterans Parkway. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has charged her boyfriend, Taylor Wade Walker, 23, also of Norman Park, in her shooting. 

As Thomas Buckland accepted the donation from the Moose Lodge Tuesday, he also brought an update on his daughter’s condition.

“She continues to be in high spirits,” Buckland said in an interview following the check presentation. “There’s some things that are looking good like she’s able to have some control on the lower region of her body but it’s just something she’ll have to continuously be working on.”

Sherrie is reportedly paralyzed from the “lower stomach down,” according to her father. 

“She has some sensation from her lower stomach down but her legs, she’ll never be able to walk again,” Thomas said. 

The Moose Lodge held a fundraiser for the family by both accepting donations and selling chicken dinner plates, which took place April 11. The lodge was able to sell 650 plates at $10 apiece while gathering $800 in direct donations, according to Moose Lodge District 4 President Cindy Baker.

“We just wanted to assist in helping the family. It’s just to assist with any of his daughter’s needs,” Baker said in an interview.

The MML held a similar fundraiser last year for Charlotte Wheeler, 4-year-old daughter of Packers assistant coach Chad Wheeler, who was undergoing cancer treatment.

“The money means a lot because we are working on getting everything ready for her,” Thomas Buckland said. 

The money presented to him Tuesday will go towards preparing Sherrie’s return home from Atlanta. These adjustments mostly focus on making the home wheelchair-accessible. 

“We are getting the doors widened to let her wheelchair pass through there,” Thomas Buckland said. “We are getting a shower stall she can just roll in and out of. That shower stall is about $3,000 just in itself. We are getting the carpet taken out to put down linoleum. We’re just making sure everything is ready whenever she is ready to come home. There’s other stuff we got to buy for the house like stools, benches, stuff like that. It’s equipment to help her get around easier. It means a lot to the family.” 

Sherrie will continue to work through her rehabilitation with a tentative date to return to Norman Park on May 12, depending on her doctor’s opinion and the ability to continue her rehabilitation treatment once she returns home. 

“We’re looking into where she can continue her treatment down here, but if we can’t find a good enough place down here then she’ll have to continue going back and forth to Shepherd,” Buckland said. 

In honor of his daughter, others affected by domestic violence and Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Buckland had some words of advice for victims of physical or mental domestic violence. 

“This goes for men or women,” he said. “If you’re being abused or you’re being mistreated, get out. Get out one way or the other. Don’t stay in an abusive relationship. Just get out. If you have people who are trying to come to you, listen to them. Take their help. Ask for their help… You don’t deserve that. Walk out. Run out if you have to. Whatever you have to do, get away from that individual. Because if you don’t you might think you’ll only get yelled at or beaten a time or two but you could wind up like my daughter, 23 years old and paralyzed for the rest of your life or even worse, she could’ve been dead.”

Buckland posts regular updates on his daughter’s recovery process on Facebook. If you would like to show your support you can find the family’s GoFundMe page or by purchasing #SHERRIESTRONG wristband for $5. The information on where to purchase can be found on Thomas Buckland’s Facebook page.