Help MiLissa keep her streetcar!

Hello and thank you for taking the time to be here. This fundraiser is for my mom, a special woman who lives in an off-track streetcar which needs to be relocated.

In 1996 after a bad divorce from our stepfather my mom moved my two sisters and I into a house conveniently located right next to our elementary school. This was no ordinary house though, it is a streetcar that was taken off the tracks, gutted out and made into a home with the help of additional built-on rooms.

In the first year of our move we suffered a terrible windstorm that felled nine large eucalyptus trees which narrowly missed the house. One of the trees remained alive in its bent position for many years, forever altering the landscape of the acre-large property and birthing the artistic side of my mom that she is known for in our community.

Her home has been a home to many people in need over the years, from relatives rehabilitating from substance abuse to pregnant women with no safe place to go. My mom has never shied from a person in need regardless of their appearance or position in life, giving that which she has not to spare because she simply can not bear another’s suffering. Her aid not only extends to people, but to any wounded creature she has come upon. Crows, cats, squirrels, and even mice have fallen under her care while living in this small community.

My mother has been an outspoken activist, fighting for awareness and accountability for the Boeing-Rocketdyne meltdown in the summer of 1959 which left many residents with related health problems.

Over the years her home has become an artistic sanctuary, with hippy paintings on nearly every surface conveying the ideas of peace and love. The massive yard was transformed into a lush garden with countless varieties of succulents that she planted with her own two hands. Passersby will often stop at her house simply for a tour.

In recent months her retired landlords have decided it is finally time for them to sell the property, which means my mom will have to leave this place she has called home for twenty-seven years. As an act of good-will her landlords have graciously gifted her the streetcar she so dearly loves, but she will need to move it off the property to somewhere permanent. However, for several years my mother has dealt with health issues that have depleted her funds and left her in a difficult position.

I am here to ask for funds to help my mom move her streetcar and get it established on family land where she can begin anew. The streetcar will need to be lifted by crane onto a platform for transportation, a base will need to be built at its permanent location for structural support, water and electricity will need to be set up, and finally a new bathroom will need to be added since the existing one is only an addition to the streetcar home.

My mom is a good person. After a lifetime of helping others I am hoping the community will help her in her time of need.