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Help Charlie - an innocent victim of gun violence

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Charlie is a great person and a wonderful Dad. He is a welcome and friendly and infrequent visitor to the street where, on Saturday April 3rd, a car drove up and opened fire on him as he was getting into his car. Charlie was shot in the leg.

No one else was hit - Thank God. Charlie and his girlfriend Lovell were just returning from taking Charlie's 8 year old son and Lovell's 10 year old nephew and 5 year old son up to Lake Tahoe to visit the snow for her son's upcoming 6th birthday. The two younger boys were back in the car after dropping Lovell's nephew off, ready to go home and get to bed after a fun vacation. 

We are all so incredibly grateful that this incident wasn't much MUCH worse. 

Still, the single bullet that went through Charlie's leg caused a LOT of damage. It shattered his femur. It took hours of surgery to reconstruct his bone and repair the damage, and he has a long and painful - and expensive - recovery ahead of him.

After a week in the hospital, he is finally home. He is still unable to walk or stand. 

Lovell will be Charlie's primary caretaker. Sadly, in addition to the pain and trauma, lost work and the potential for lifelong complications, it looks like insurance will only cover a small percentage of the cost of the surgery and hospital stay. It won't cover the equipment and supplies they need to deal with such a severe injury. It also will not cover loss of work for both Charlie and Lovell, and likely won't cover mental health care for the trauma sustained - not only for Charlie and Lovell, but for the children - as well as Lovell's family, whose house is riddled with bullet holes. 

To add insult to injury, someone went through the car that night and stole everything that had been forgotten in the chaos of the night - including the birthday boy's Nintendo Switch. Insurance won't cover that or the car's broken windows. 

Charlie works for a community non-profit in San Francisco as an outreach coordinator providing IHSS (in-house supportive services) for people in need. Charlie himself works as an IHSS worker to his aunt, who has now lost her care provider due to the extent of his injuries.

We know that we have set the goal for the fundraiser pretty high - but honestly - if we were trying to cover the true cost of this horrific night, we would be setting the goal much, much higher. We are grateful for anything you are able to contribute, and any way that you are able to share this fundraiser with your communities.

Who are Charlie & Lovell?

Both Charlie and Lovell were born and raised in Oakland, CA. They are high school sweethearts.

Charlie has always been an advocate for peace and community. He is the support for many people in his life. He's the guy that everyone comes to when they need advice, love, money and especially when they need to laugh. He works as hard as he can to help uplift the dreams of his community so they can feel and understand their worth. He strongly supports small businesses, Black- and LGBTQ-owned businesses and street vendors. As mentioned above, he works for a nonprofit providing in-home care to people who need it. He is a loving father to a 9 year old daughter and an 8 year old son. 

Lovell is also a care-giver, working in childcare and home education primarily for children and young adults with developmental challenges. She is the mother of a 6 year old boy. She is AWESOME!!

From Charlie & Lovell:

Our hope is that with this gofundme fundraiser we can focus most of our energy on healing for everyone (this fundraiser isn’t just for us but also our family members involved who have also lived the trauma and are requiring support through the experience). We hope it will offer us less time worrying about how to manage all the expenses associated. A big part of this healing is moving.

We are looking at a timeline of 3-6 months starting as expected time off of work. Charlie has started PT and is doing great but the recovery process is expected to be long and difficult so we have to be prepared for the reality of that.

Who is Amanda?

Amanda is their next-door neighbor, she is providing support so the full weight of this horrible incident doesn't fall solely on their shoulders.

Organizer and beneficiary

Amanda Sayre Caskey
Organizer
Oakland, CA
Lovell Lynch
Beneficiary

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