Rising Stars: Meet Devin Gonzales of Grandview, Ohio

Today we’d like to introduce you to Devin Gonzales.

Hi Devin, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Well, it all started with me and my old roommate Josh Snead during Covid on lockdown 2020. We were riding our bikes a lot and thought it would be an amazing adventure to bike across the state in four days as our first journey. We broke it up in to four days and shared it on Facebook Then my good buddy Sam Woodward and his friend Jacob joined in, and boom Ride for hope was born. We wanted to raise money and awareness doing so and knew that mental health was on and decline and resources were minimal. so we decided to make that our focus having struggled with mental health at a young age Personally, I see importance of advocacy and community building. These have become a way of life not just something I get to do.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
At the age of 13 goes in a dark place and attempted to take my own life and gratefully did not succeed. Still lost lacking purpose, and passion in life and had pain from past experiences I couldn’t manage. I fell into drugs and alcohol and at the age of 18 I overdosed and had another encounter with death. In that moment, I had to make a choice continue the life I had or surrender to a higher calling, a calling that God gave me from birth. To live sacrificially, letting all know that they are loved and ctreated for a divine purpose .

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a construction project manager for a GC in Columbus, Ohio. I started framing houses at the age of 19 and construction has now become my career. I am forever grateful for the skills and the hard work has taught me and continues to do so.

What were you like growing up?
I grew up in the country outside of the town called Mccomb, Ohio. Growing up, taking care of my neighbors, horses and working a farm at the age of 13 for my bus driver was my life growing up. I never really had an interest in construction, but in the third grade everyone have to choose what they wanna do when they’re older as a project and I chose construction. I was always interested in riding my bike because that was my form of transportation to my friend’s house when my parents couldn’t take me. Long open country roads with a nice easy sunset.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://therideforhopeohio.com/
• Instagram: @Rideforhopeohio