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Paid it forward, but still need some help. [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-12-17

First off — sorry about the random image, but I love Snoopy. This one called to me, as I’m a techie and I barely know how to use my smartphone, which you’ll notice in a bit.

So, it does pain me to have to ask for help here on the Daily Kos, but I’m running out of options and time.

A quick rundown of my story and why I’m asking for assistance. I’m a 49-year-old female who lives in a very red state. I’ve been a member here for quite a few years. I don’t post or comment a lot, but I read almost everything posted every day — It’s like my sanity Calgon.

Continuing — The day before Thanksgiving I lost my father to a heart attack, (So dealing with all that involves) while the same day I got an eviction notice on my apartment. (I knew it was coming and had been struggling to round up funds, but the rental company just wouldn’t work with me.) So they gave me 3 days to get out, and they wouldn’t even give me until the end of the month (which was only a couple more days anyway) if I paid them in full as well as December’s rent on the first when it was due. The Battery in my truck is dead which made it useless to move. I had called in every favor I had to pull those funds together on their whim, and it was just painful to have them tell me no, as I have no family here anymore, and only one friend who couldn’t take me in. (Just note this rental company has raised the rent 3x times in the last three years, yet fixes nothing. I never was late for 4.5 years of being there until October which I paid half of, then missed November).

So, I put that money into getting a truck, a storage unit, and packed up all my stuff and stored it, and threw a Hail Mary hoping I could last long enough in a hotel to find a place to reside. The hopes of renting an apartment — I didn’t have enough for the first/last/deposit, but I could a room, but this rental company controls EVERYTHING! in this town related to rentals. The town I live in doesn’t have a homeless center, and the community action/assistance is completely out of rental assistance money, and the apartments they could get me into have really long waiting lists. The two closest (Bigger) towns to me, have the same issue. Having helped a few in bad situations before, I tried every place and then some to help myself out, to no avail. So without transportation (in a town that has no public transportation, uber or Lyft services, one taxi that takes Cash only, and is super expensive and unreliable, rude, and from the reviews quite racist) or a place to live, I did what I could.

To add to the misery, I worked from home, and since I no longer had a home, I lost my job as well. So after a week in a hotel and stressing to high heaven and watching my funds drain daily so I wouldn’t freeze to death, a friend and her husband, acquaintances of my only friend here took me into their home on her word that I was a good, decent, kind person (I am, I don’t like to brag, but when I had money, I put it towards her family so she was bending over backward to help me out). This couple is amazing, they brought me into their home as a complete stranger (come to find out we had another mutual acquaintance here in town, and she sang my praises for being a nice and kind person as well — I had totally forgotten about it, but I had purchased her grandkids Christmas five or six years ago, and gave them a couple of hundred dollars to go food shopping on a couple of occasions, covered their water/power bills, even pulled her out of a ditch when her car blew up --we went to high school together back in the day and had reconnected after 30 years. After that I’d given her/her two daughters rides, clothes and things for job interviews). It just warmed my heart that a little bit of Karma did come my way in my time of need.

So, I am fed and do have a roof over my head, and they are the nicest people around (though I have found politically they don’t like Biden and would prefer ‘a business man’ and would support Trump if he would only keep his mouth shut). So we don’t talk politics. LOL. Anyway, I gave them the last I had ($200.00), and the room they would like to have $350 a month. I want to find that difference, and maybe some for January, as I don’t want to take advantage of their kindness. In the last three days since I’ve been here, I have cleaned their house, like way over the top, cooked the meals, was here so they could stay at work to get a washer/dryer into a basement (that was fun) and then the old ones out. (They donated them — they are really nice people). But they aren’t rich and have some debt hanging over their head (having just put in a new HVAC and plumbing system — it’s an old house). That is why they were renting the room.

So I’m asking for donations from my fellow Kossack’s to help me cover the following and help them out along the way:

$150 — remaining for this month in rent

$350 — to go towards January

$200 — (Approx) to get the battery for my truck (This will make physical job hunting here easier, as I can doordash until I find something more solid).

$35 — to keep my cellphone on (You know, because you need one, but I’m good there until Mid Jan)

$50 — a month (As they have internet, but are willing to let me stay here and get a work from home Job, but I need wired internet — which I can get for that and take over their internet bill payment)

Anything else, I’d put into replacing any food I have eaten of theirs (Yes, they are feeding me, it’s like family meals at the table at night).

I will even go as far as to pay it back once I’m on my feet again to those who donated or consider it a loan. I do keep my word that way. I just know, that once you get through the hoops of the Work at Home Jobs, it’s usually a good month before you get a paycheck. I’m at that age where minimum wage at McDonald’s isn’t going to cut it (And that is all that is really here for jobs right now, fast food min. wage), and my body honestly can’t. While I don’t have health problems, I do like to have insurance if I can afford it.

But any amount will help. Don’t think I’m not appreciative of even $1, or that I’m not doing everything in my power to help myself. Just today the local Bishop set me up with 3 retirees who needed some help vacuuming/cleaning up after their cats, shoveling snow, etc for a few dollars. Transportation is difficult, but his son who just got his driver’s license is getting me there and back.

So the Snoopy Pic. Explanation, I do have both a PayPal and Venmo account, and they are both through this e-mail address: [email protected] I don’t do Apple Pay (though I worked for them for three years, lol but I don’t own an iPhone, but an Android, don’t hate me). I don’t have Zelle either, but I’m sure I can set one up if that’s an option. I’m a master on a PC, but when it comes to my phone, I’m still a beginner (What I know of it, I did learn at Apple. I had a Blackberry for 13 years but was forced to upgrade.) But I am a smart cookie, I know how to look stuff up on support websites. (I do have a degree in CIS with a focus in information security after all).

Now I haven’t used these accounts in years, so if there is more to sending/receiving money please let me know in the comments. I have logged into both and ensured that all the account info is correct, and verified, that I can access it, and the like.

I know there are a lot of scams and the like out there, so where I have internet (by the grace of my hosts — we’ll just call them Sean and Heather) if I know who donated, I will thank them with an e-mail, or in the comments. I do ask that you see I’ve been a member here for years, and as noted, I don’t post often (But if you do find my diaries, you’ll narrow down where I live on one of them.) My paypal I’ve had since 2010, and Venmo since 2018, but as I said, I don’t use them. (My PayPal was older, like 2003-ish, but it got hacked and I lost all the funds there, so I don’t trust them to hold the $$, I transfer it off as soon as I can, or pay what I need to and leave it with little to zero balance).

Thank you for reading all of that, I do appreciate it if you made it this far. While I was getting pretty suicidal there (Even called the hotline) I’m in good spirits now, due to the generosity of those who have helped me thus far.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and may whatever God/Gods you believe in (or not) bless you.

HR Crystal

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/12/17/2212202/-Paid-it-forward-but-still-need-some-help?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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