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Young Widow Fund

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This is certainly not an idea I would have come up with myself. I'm not the type of person to ask for charity, I'm usually the one donating to charity. 

A friend of mine suggested that I should try to raise a bit of money on here to help me out during this difficult (impossible) time. 

Last November my husband passed away. I was a housewife until that point and had medical issues that kept me from working. I started a home business making jewelry. My jewelry is really nice, but it's difficult to sell stuff on Etsy due to oversaturation. 

Currently my etsy store is empty, but I do plan to post pieces for sale in the next few months. If you would like to view my shop, the link is below. From my shop page, you can request to be emailed when my shop reopens. 

My Etsy Shop

I am now living in Reno, NV and working at Walmart. I'm looking for a second job, and may have one lined up for a local warehouse. That hiring process is pretty involved and I was told that it could take 4-6 weeks before I actually start working there. Walmart is fun, but they will only give me 32 hours a week. 

Both my husband and I had incurred quite a bit of debt over the years due to our medical issues. I have a lung defect that significantly reduces my lung function and makes it a chore to breathe. My husband developed seizures about 4-5 years ago, and that is unfortunately what caused his death 11 months ago. He landed in the hospital multiple times over the years and had a plethora of tests administered but as is usually the case with seizures, the doctors couldn't explain why they were happening. 

He was put on medication that greatly reduced their frequency and severity, but they couldn't get them to stop entirely. One night in November, he had a seizure that resulted in suffocation. By the time the paramedics arrived, he was already gone. 

This has been the most difficult thing I have ever had to endure. I lost everything when I lost him. My best friend, confidant, soulmate. As if that wasn't difficult enough, losing him meant losing my means to survive, keep a roof over my head and food in my fridge. I was 26 years old when he passed away, and I had to start completely from scratch in the job market. I had the credentials of someone just getting out of high school, but I had the disadvantage of being 10 years older. It took me 10 months and a relocation to find a job. I had to move from the San Francisco area up to Reno just so that I could find work. Luckily the job market up here is healthier, and I was able to get the job at Walmart, however, things are still proving quite difficult. 

I rented a room from a very nice gentleman who understood my situation and was willing to let me move in with no money up front and would allow me to pay rent in installments beginning when I got my first paycheck. 

Unfortunately my first check was only like a weeks worth of pay, and after putting gas in my car and buying new shoes for work, I have $80 to my name for 2 weeks. He accused me of not keeping my word, using him, not having good priorities when it came to my money and asked me to move out. I offered to give him the full $80 and assured him that my next check would have at least 55 hours on it which would cover the rest of this months rent. He maintains his belief that I'm untrustworthy and won't keep my agreements. A friend of mine said that I could stay with her for a few weeks, so that helps, but this whole situation has put me in more of a bind than I already was. 

As it stands right now, I am just over $30,000 in debt. I am only asking for $4000 because that will eliminate my 2 small debts and leave me with just one large debt account. 

Any little bit helps, and is greatly appreciated.

Organizer

Wendy Thacker
Organizer
Reno, NV

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