2016 Genealogy Research Fund
Donation protected
Hi my name is Christa Chandler. I am married with 1 child (a 9yr old boy). I served in the United States Navy for almost 8 years. First as an Aviation Safety Equipment Mechanic then as a Recruiter. I was hoping to make a career out of it. Everything was going great until one tragic day, I was in a hit and run car accident. The accident shifted my neck to the left and started causing problems with my lower back too. Come to find out I had a deteriated L5-S1 disc, which was never known or caused a problem (until the accident). I was no longer able to pass the physical fitness test and my medical restrictions didn't even allow me to try. This resulted in a honorable discharge for the convienence of the Navy. Through the VA system I qualify and recieve an 80% disability rating/pay.
My husband was forced to put his ambitions aside for the sake of my Navy Career. Just as he was becoming accustomed to the demands of my career and was able to find a good paying job (in the middle of the recession) my boss' demanded he quit because his on call requirement was conflicting with the schedule they needed me to be on. IE he needed to be able to pick our son up from day care.
He has been working on our home trying to make it as nice as he can on our limited income. We have been barely skating by on my VA disability pay. My health (less falling) and this house is finally to a point that he feels comfortabe enough leaving me home through out the day so he can return to work .
I have so many medical restrictions that returning to work is nearly impossible. So I am a stay at home mom. I attempt to keep the house clean and cook for everyone but sometimes I am in so much pain it is hard to do even that. So when I'm stuck on the heating pad and tins unit (pain meds make me feel awful so I resort to heat and electrical stimulation of the nerves instead) I keep from getting board by doing genealogy research. I really like sharing what I found on my blog and facebook too. I was hoping to fund my research through ads. In a year and a half of blogging I have only managed to raise $15.77 not even enough to receive a first check ($100). I'm to the point in my research that it is difficult to find stuff on the free sites like family search. Which I always try free first. I am however finding a lot on ancestry.com. These memberships are expensive though. That's why I thought I might try this gofundme thing to try and offset this expense even just a little bit. My newest blog has already had 471 views. If even just 389 of those people donated $1 I would have enough to have an all access pass for a whole year to all of ancestry's records. If more donated I might even be able to get the DNA kit, I have been dreaming of, for me or my husband or both.
If you donate to my campaign, the money will be used to pay for ancestry subscriptions, and DNA testing. My goal represents the subscription plus 2 DNA test plus a little extra for shipping, and tax. This will cover me for 1 year. If I earn more than my goal, I think it would be nice to join a genealogy or historical society. This will allow me to socialize more in person (I don't have many in person friends). Also I could use any extra for paper, ink, and binders to save a real hard copy of my research. I could also save for the following year of subscription fees. So I'm not putting an end date on this just yet.
My subscription ends in Feb 2016 so I would love it if I could meet my goal by then.
Family history is so important to me because up until a few years ago, I didn't know my dad and I had an entire main branch missing from my tree. Now that I have something to go off of (because I found him) I am so intrigued and want to find out more of the mystery.
I would be so eternally grateful for any help I can get with funding my research. Like I said it is hard to pay for these things when your buying everything from such a limited monthly budget. If you are interested in your family history but don't have the time to research it...for top contributors, if there is a way for us to contact each other, I may be able to help you with this. Again thank you so much for taking the time to read my story and consider funding my research.
My husband was forced to put his ambitions aside for the sake of my Navy Career. Just as he was becoming accustomed to the demands of my career and was able to find a good paying job (in the middle of the recession) my boss' demanded he quit because his on call requirement was conflicting with the schedule they needed me to be on. IE he needed to be able to pick our son up from day care.
He has been working on our home trying to make it as nice as he can on our limited income. We have been barely skating by on my VA disability pay. My health (less falling) and this house is finally to a point that he feels comfortabe enough leaving me home through out the day so he can return to work .
I have so many medical restrictions that returning to work is nearly impossible. So I am a stay at home mom. I attempt to keep the house clean and cook for everyone but sometimes I am in so much pain it is hard to do even that. So when I'm stuck on the heating pad and tins unit (pain meds make me feel awful so I resort to heat and electrical stimulation of the nerves instead) I keep from getting board by doing genealogy research. I really like sharing what I found on my blog and facebook too. I was hoping to fund my research through ads. In a year and a half of blogging I have only managed to raise $15.77 not even enough to receive a first check ($100). I'm to the point in my research that it is difficult to find stuff on the free sites like family search. Which I always try free first. I am however finding a lot on ancestry.com. These memberships are expensive though. That's why I thought I might try this gofundme thing to try and offset this expense even just a little bit. My newest blog has already had 471 views. If even just 389 of those people donated $1 I would have enough to have an all access pass for a whole year to all of ancestry's records. If more donated I might even be able to get the DNA kit, I have been dreaming of, for me or my husband or both.
If you donate to my campaign, the money will be used to pay for ancestry subscriptions, and DNA testing. My goal represents the subscription plus 2 DNA test plus a little extra for shipping, and tax. This will cover me for 1 year. If I earn more than my goal, I think it would be nice to join a genealogy or historical society. This will allow me to socialize more in person (I don't have many in person friends). Also I could use any extra for paper, ink, and binders to save a real hard copy of my research. I could also save for the following year of subscription fees. So I'm not putting an end date on this just yet.
My subscription ends in Feb 2016 so I would love it if I could meet my goal by then.
Family history is so important to me because up until a few years ago, I didn't know my dad and I had an entire main branch missing from my tree. Now that I have something to go off of (because I found him) I am so intrigued and want to find out more of the mystery.
I would be so eternally grateful for any help I can get with funding my research. Like I said it is hard to pay for these things when your buying everything from such a limited monthly budget. If you are interested in your family history but don't have the time to research it...for top contributors, if there is a way for us to contact each other, I may be able to help you with this. Again thank you so much for taking the time to read my story and consider funding my research.
Organizer
Christa Davis Chandler
Organizer
Peru, IN