Hill Returns Favor To ​“Uncle Abe”

Abraham Gallishaw is known for hosting pig roast cookouts that feed his neighbors in the Hill. On Saturday his neighbors turned around to throw him a celebration — to help him get back on his feet after a fire destroyed his home.

Gallishaw,also known as ​“Uncle Abe,” lost his Arthur Street home to a fire that spread from the neighboring house on Thursday March 4. The three-family residence was condemned and demolished the next day.

“Thirty years of what I’ve worked for is gone. I just had the clothes on my back,” said Gallishaw, a 69-year-old retired meal-on-wheels worker who rented his home.

Gallishaw’s children — Nakia Dawson-Douglas, Taquanna Thomas, Adrienne Carmen, Bernice Dawson, and Abraham Gallishaw Jr. — organized the ​“give and go” celebration for their father on Saturday amid the rubble of the family home at Arthur and Lamberton streets.

Even after the fire, Gallishaw didn’t ask for help but instead continue to offer a helping hand to others.

Since 2004 Gallishaw has been hosting a community cookout at Washington Avenue Park to feed the neighborhood. When Gallishaw moved to the Arthur Street home more than 30 years ago, he recalled saying ​“the condition of this neighborhood says it all” and began helping the community with services like lawn care.

Saturday’s give and go event attracted 60 community and family members to help Gallishaw out for a change. Gallishaw’s kids grew up watching the community depend on their father. Gallishaw preferred to have the event instead of creating a GoFundMe online fundraiser. ​“He doesn’t just need money. We want to remind him that the community has his back,” said Thomas.

Gallishaw couldn’t salvage any of his belongings from the fire. He now temporarily stays with his girlfriend, he said. Friends and family donated household goods like an air fryer, microwave oven, and toilet tissue for his next home.

Gallishaw was down the street at Angela Unique Creations gift shop at the time of the fire.

His twin brother Issac Gallishaw, who occupied the home’s second floor, was planning to take a nap during the time of the fire. Then his friend Riley Gregg called him asking for a ride to Union Station. ​“When I put my shoes on and walked out, I saw next door was on fire,” he said. The fire then spread to the Gallishaws’ building.

Issac has since relocated to his Masonry brothers home, Douglass Hall.

“I have been keeping positive because I know God will provide,” Issac said.

Friends and family stopped by the celebration Saturday, which sat in front of a pile of rubble at the corner of Arthur and Lamberton Street.

Elder Gallishaw dropped by the celebration to give a monetary donation to her brother in law. ​“When one of us hurts, all of us hurt,” she said.

Music blared from the corner as community members stopped by and thanked Gallishaw for his decades of service in the neighborhood.

A number of city officials stopped by in support of Gallishaw, including housing authority President Karen DuBois-Walton, Mayor Justin Elicker, and Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker Myers, Gallishaw’s niece.

Elicker presented Gallishaw with a mayoral proclamation for his decades of service in the community.

Gallishaw hopes to get a new home in the Hill, he said. ​“l’ll never leave the place. It needs help.”

At one point Gallishaw had spoken to the owners about purchasing the home next door, but they declined his offers

Andrea Murrell stopped by Saturday with her 2‑year-old son Drew, to give a donation to her childhood inspiration. 

Murrell grew up with Gallishaw and his family and described him as a ​“true figure in the community.” She said Gallishaw serves as a positive reminder of her childhood.

“He is everything good about New Haven,” she said.