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I don't know how to go about this.... Help needed. [1]

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Date: 2022-08-29

This bread is symbolic of hearth and home.

This is difficult for me. I don’t know how to do this.

Many years ago my parents bought a stony piece of land just up the road from where my Mom grew up. She had a terrible childhood and credited the woods here for saving her life when she was a kid. When her father was being vicious she would come up here onto this property and find healing and solace among the trees and rocks. When she and Dad were newly married this piece of land with pine woods and a small mountain came on the market for only $2000, so they scraped up what they could and borrowed the rest, and purchased it. They built a little house here, and this is where they raised me and my 4 siblings. It is home. Mom called it our “Holdfast.”

This piece of land is sacred to me and my family. Mom and Dad are now gone, and I like to think of them walking hand in hand in these woods that they loved so much.

Next year there is a program starting in the state, which gives a tax break to people who keep their property in wild land. There is already one for farming and timber harvesting, and now there will be help for people like me who wish to protect the land from development, preserving the fragile forest ecosystem.

My parents never had money, and though they left this piece of land to me and my sibs, they did not have any money to leave to us to help with the taxes, which just keep going up. But next year I can get into the Current Use Land Conservation program. Next year.

I am in a pickle now, with not enough money for the property tax, which is due on October 1. (Ironically, October 1 is Mom and Dad’s anniversary.) My sibs cannot help. My eldest sister just had to pay for expensive car repairs, and is facing a hike in her rent. My brother has 2 young daughters — one in college and one heading there in a couple of years, and a mortgage and taxes of his own. Another sister just bought a new electric car and had to take a second job to pay for it. Another sister is perpetually broke and struggling to pay her own bills. My niece just signed a contract to have new siding put on her house, and just finished paying for a new furnace. We’re all strapped for cash.

I don’t know what else to do. I cannot lose this home for want of $3000. I just need a bridge to next year. I have a little cash on hand but not much, not enough.

A guy came into the store where I work last week and plunked down $3000 for some bedsheets. It is so little to some people, pocket change, an afterthought. But to me, and so many others, $3000 is vast. I’ve been just sick about this for months, knowing the tax bill is coming. I am losing sleep. It’s pretty much the only thing I can think about as that awful due date approaches.

I don’t know if I would ever be able to repay any assistance I might receive. I can, however, show appreciation with a gift — a painting or a drawing… some work of my hand.

I feel bad about asking. It breaks my heart. I know there are people a lot worse off than I am, who need help more than I do. But dammit, this is my home.

Like I said, I don’t know how to go about this. Any advice is welcome.

EDIT: I have been advised to post the GFM link here so it doesn’t get lost in the thread. (Thank you, SlidingHome!)

www.gofundme.com/...

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/8/29/2119552/-I-don-t-know-how-to-go-about-this-Help-needed

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