The emergency part of the NOW...
In a nutshell, I had my eviction hearing on 4/12. I have to pay or vacate by 4/24. I am just sick about it. $900 for April. A friend helped me with the last of March. I already feel like a failure and have for several months. This just takes it to another level. I am not young. I am not well. I can't be homeless. I have been blessed these past few months by a host of family and a lot of friends, but it may be too much for so many who are going through a lot these days. I am trying to raise funds for my living expenses to carry me through the next couple of months. That's the basic necessities. Below I go in much more detail of my story, but because I am respectful of time, I thought I would lay it all out in the beginning as there is a definitive need. Not wanting to burden any one person with a huge amount, I am a firm believer that. Every little bit truly does add up and help.
Here it is...
This has been an eye-opening time for me, and have been told kindness is stronger than pride and if you don’t ask for help, you won’t get it if people don’t know you need it. A few friends (who all have helped me recently in a variety of ways) are the ones who suggested that I start this fundraising campaign. I lost the best job I ever had back in May 2022; due to mass layoffs. I got another job back in July, kept getting sick (that’s when I was diagnosed with neuropathy) and lost the job in October due to the numerous absences. Since then, of course, I had been looking for work, found a job in January this year, got sick again and lost it due to illness as well. I have been able to get EBT food assistance and just very recently received Medicaid and have, again, been blessed by friends and family to get me to this point. I have run out of some of my medications as well that are not all covered by insurance. So, I will be paying full freight for those too.
I have applied for more assistance through state and federal programs, but they are all a process. So, what does one do when they are not well, unable to work and in the middle feeling stuck? It has been a difficult time for me and I have almost given up, but what good is that? That would be a slap in the face to all who have helped.
It is so hard to be in your mid-50s, still viable, still young enough, but also kind of old due to the health issues that I face. I have run out of most of my medications and hopefully will be put back on them now that I have Medicaid, but imagine slowly running out of meds for diabetes, depression, anxiety, general anxiety disorder and neuropathy, to name a few. Side effects also happen when you don't take much needed medications.
Then when I look back on my life and career and how I used to thrive and not being able to do so now... well, it's disheartening, soul-crushing even. I have written books, have done photography, been in theatrical plays, used to perform in drag shows and was always able to supplement any income with talent. I simply just can't do that right now. I always have had a job ever since I was 13. I remember when I had three, was in college, doing drag shows or plays and taking care of sick parents and grandparents. My goodness how times have changed.
Then to lose that awesome job last year, one I moved back to Michigan for from Florida back in 2019. I never made so much money or felt so needed in a professional environment and to have the rug pulled out from under all of us was devastating. I did not realize how much so at the time, but I do now. After months of slowly watching my savings dwindle, lifestyle change; cutting down cable, home phone, wi-fi, cutting down credit cards, unable to pay for the basics of basics. I am just trying to survive at this point. I need help to get me to whenever these programs I have applied to and assistance to come through; or I am healthy and able enough to return to work.
I thank you again, for your consideration and please know that this decision did not come easy for me. It is hard to ask for help, but my friends who have helped encouraged me to continue to reach out and I know others are struggling. Nobody gets that more than I do. I thank you for your time in reading my story, for your hopeful generosity and any prayers are also much appreciated as well. It will all come back to you tenfold.
Many blessings. I am praying for all of us.
