Meet Mark Daggett | Founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mark Daggett and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mark, what principle do you value most?
I would have to say Integrity. People tend to gage one’s character and just what kind of person you are through your integrity. Integrity is your Core. This is very important to me because it matters to me how people view me!
Being in a people business first impressions are vital and at the end of the day, I want people to know I care.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am a third generation native San Diegan. I spent my 47 year professional career in the Landscape Contracting and Land Development business. I had my own contracting business for 23 years and then I sold it in 1999. I went to work for a large land developer in Chula Vista and finished my career with them and retired in 2018. In the summer of 2017, my co worker Tammy’s 23 MTh toddler Reilly had a horrible accident. He sustained a very high level spinal cord injury (C-2 Complete SCI ) paralyzed from below his shoulders and on a ventilator to breath for him. So keep in mind, just before Reilly’s accident i was starting to plan out the things I was going to do when I do retire which at the time was not to far off in the distance. Maybe a year or 2 at the most.
So following Reilly’s accident, Life changed not only for Reilly & his family but for their friends and the community.
This is where things got personal. This is where God stepped in and told me to step up and do something more than just pray. This was the onset of Rally4Reilly & Friends being borne. We put on a golf tournament even though I do not golf and the out pouring from the community and friends was just absolutey Amazing. We raised $155,000. We continue to have our annual golf tournament and we continue to have Reilly at our fore front. Reilly will always be our Ambassador! We have expanded and we continue to help many other families and individual’s that have been affected by a spinal cord injury. We have partnered with Rady Childrens Hospital San Diego, Sharp Rehabilitation Services and many other wonderful organizations.
Our Mission is to Financially assist kids and people that have been affected by a spinal cord injury (SCI) and help then thrive. This journey is a needed journey for the SCI Community in the sense that the spinal cord injury (SCI) community is what I would call an over looked community in one respect. My opinion is that many of the other disability communities have much better funding and backing from the big Pharma companies. They are more reliant on the pharmaceuticals that many of the folks in the SCI community. People in the SCI community for the most part seem to be a bit more reliant on services such as physical therapy, Wheelchair accessible vans, DME, Respite care .
Rally4Reilly & Friends works with people who have no medical insurance and help fund the ever growing number of things that are not covered by insurance. We Advocate for the SCI Community. We advocate for Awareness about SCI. We are positioning the organization to eventually be the organization that people turn to in San Diego for anything SCI related. We are continually growing our resource pool to share with anyone.
Everyone involved with the organization is honored, humbled and excited to be a part of something that is bigger that anyone of us as an individual. We look forward to our organization growing, securing additional funding to help cover the expensive services that we offer. If I had to pick one thing I am most proud of throughout this journey is to have the opportunity to be surrounded by our board members / Friends and the many wonderful people we have been blessed with the opportunity to help out.
Although there are resources out there for SCI Survivors, we feel we have an opportunity to pull our resources together and Make it much more convenient for people to find the resources they need. We feel they should spend their time adjusting to their new life and not on locating resources.
I have learned so much about patience, respect for other, knowing everyone has a story! We never know what someone is going through! True Empathy is an amazing opportunity to get to know someone on a much deeper level! I truly believe it is Everyone’s responsibility to make a difference Everyday on some level. It does not matter how big or small. Just do something.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Our week would start with the two of us catching up and enjoying a drink in our Botanical garden. We would talk, share stories and decide what we are going to do! The itinerary decided upon would look like this! Day 1:
Wake up and have a nice breakfast.
Enjoy coffee ,get dressed and head out to the mountains. We both love to hike so off we go for a day of hiking
Back to my house for a nice BBQ with a few other friends

Day 2:
Up Early to get a jump start on the day.
First Stop is Balboa Park. Spend time looking at the museum’s and different exhibits. We love walking around the park because there are so many cool trees and plants to take in.
Grab some lunch off of one of the food trucks! Always so good!!
After a full day on our feet we decided to go to C Level for an amazing dinner on the bay
Wrap the day up in our patio, have a drink and enjoying the breeze

Day 3 & 4:
Up Early again today! We are headed to La Paz BC Mexico for 2 days of sport fishing.
Flight leaves at 7 am and 3 hours later we will be on the white sandy beaches of Los Cabos
Hit the hotel, unload and get down to the boat The boat ride is about 1 hour long and before you know it we are on the fish! We start battling dorado and tuna and it is non stop for 1 hour.
We enjoy a few cold cervezas and a nice boat ride back
Enjoyed a nice evening at one of the pubs, nice dinner and a cool walk around the Marina
Day 2 in Los Cabos is just relaxing. Up a little late, nice breakfast at the pool.
We cruised around town, enjoyed seeing the older part of town and it was very cool to see how it used to be.
Our flight let at 4pm. Back to San Diego. We arrived home a little tired so we had an early dinner and the to bed

Day 5:
Up very early , light breakfast and then off to San Onofre Beach for some surfing. Waves are a bit small but still fun. After surfing we went to a favorite spot for lunch, Tonys Jacal Mexican Restaurant in Del Mar. The food is so good! We went down to the bay and rode E Bikes for 3 hours around the bay and checked out the shops.
We ended our nice long week with an Amazing dinner at Banbu Sushi. Back home and relax in the patio

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I always give credit and recognition to God and my Family. They have been there for me unconditionally. The ones that mean the most to me throughout this Journey are Reilly, Kyle & Tammy. Reilly is the little boy who Rally4Reilly & Friends was started after. They have shared their lives on the most intimate basis with me.Following Reilly’s accident he sustained a C-2 Complete spinal cord injury and on a ventilator , paralyzed from below his shoulders I was given a mission from God to push forward in the world of Spinal Cord Injuries and create an organization that would provided help and resources for this community.
I Look to Reilly for inspiration and Support. To watch the adversity that he and his family go through, and the positive attitudes they display is humbling on a daily basis to me.
Our Board of Directors, Carmen, Nichole, Stephanie, Sergio & Mike is also a large part of my inspiration and drive when it comes to the development of Rally4Reilly & Friends. We are a passionate group of professionals with big hearts!

Website: https://www.rally4reilly.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rally4reillyandfriends/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rally4reilly/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rally4reillyandfriends/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com@rally4reilly

Image Credits
Aaron Lawler- Model Image Media