Single Parent Suffering Severe Hardship

Hi, my name is Holly, and I’m fundraising for a family friend who is a single parent in low income housing. I know this is an unconventional and bizzare situation to crowdfund for, but here we are.

For the sake of anonymity, I won’t disclose any personal information.

To no fault of their own, they are in the process of being evicted. This is a combination of work-hour cutbacks, sickness, childcare inconsistencies, and lack of support from the child’s other parent (this being the main one).

They are in the interview process with a few new full time positions, and childcare is now consistent. They can keep up with current rent moving forward, but have no way of catching up on the 3 months of rent that is behind, thus keeping them in the eviction process - after your eviction notice is served, there are no partial payments accepted that will reset the eviction terms until the past due balance is paid in full. The account has been sent to the attorney and the only remaining options are to become homeless with an eviction on their record, or pay the amount in full.

We have called every single resource available. SNAP, Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, Spokane Resources, 211, and about 30 other charities, non profits, and organizations or resource centers, both locally and nationally, all resulting in an “unfortunately, we are out of rental assistance.” I continue to check in with some of these daily who say they might open applications in the near future.

State and federal resources are only available when they “qualify for the federal definition of homeless”, which means living on the streets, in a shelter, or couch surfing. Isn’t that great?

My next steps are to reach out to local churches, non-profits, and other family and friends to see if anyone can pledge a small amount to contribute to this past-due amount. $3500 is a lot of money for one person, but with the help of others, maybe it will be reachable.

I know this is unconventional and a bit weird to fundraise for a financial hardship like this, but I can’t just watch them become homeless. There are no family or friends they can temporarily stay with or who can provide this financial support for them.

We have tried having them apply for several emergency, high interest rate loans and they have been declined for every one.

Also, they don’t know I’m doing this. So if you know me and think you know who this is about, please keep it quiet.

Thanks for reading, anything is appreciated if you feel the call to help out.