A Humble Request for A Friend

I am fundraising for a coworker in extreme need, who I will keep anonymous for her privacy. She is an instructional assistant and works tirelessly to care for the most important individuals in our community-those who cannot care for themselves. She works with high schoolers with severe disabilities and she does so with a bright light and smile everyday. She feeds, changes, and attends to a wide variety of personal needs. She assists students who are learning to be independent. She provides them support at community work sites. She also supports with assistive technology to ensure her student’s voices are heard. 

 She makes $24,000/year and is supporting a teenage daughter in a low income housing unit. Despite this, the rent is still $2,100/month.

By no fault of her own, she lost some community resources and is currently operating with no rent support, no food assistance and ONLY emergency Medicaid, which is only for hospital visits. I am assisting her with acquiring community resources ASAP, but it is a full time job to coordinate these services and there are waitlists for EVERYTHING. 

 She is a diabetic, who requires 2 types of insulin and she is currently paying out of pocket $180/month for one prescription and going without the other, which is $1200/month. 

She has begun rationing her insulin to make it last longer at the expense of her health.

This women is a public servant who cares for the needs of others and I need your help to assist her now. The next few months will be extremely difficult for the family. They are at great risk of losing housing and health. I believe that with time, I will be able to assist the family with long term resources, but time is of the essence.

Though this friendship is through work, this is my own personal advocacy work. It has nothing to do with the school system with which I am employed. In other words, I am not asking for assistance on behalf of the school system, but instead directly for the individual.

Anything you give will be met with incredible gratitude.

With Love,

Whitney