Donate to Karen and Renny's Rent Scam & Job Loss Recovery

Donate to Karen and Renny's Rent Scam & Job Loss Recovery

When you are already at the bottom and the bottom falls out of the bottom, and keeps falling out and goes into freefall it’s time to reach out to community members who appreciate immigrants as a hard-working cornerstone of our nation and who understand the stressful and often very unstable landscape of their lives. That’s why I am creating this fundraiser for Karen and Renny.

Renny is a Venezuelan asylum seeker who arrived in Chicago in September 2023 after a 3 month trek through 7 countries. Karen is a Colombian asylum seeker who arrived in Chicago in December 2023 after a similar harrowing journey.

A few weeks ago they were both scammed out of $800 by a criminal who promised to rent them an apartment and then disappeared with their money. When the fraudulent “landlord” further preyed on Karen’s vulnerability by requesting her immigration identification number, she gave it to him. He used it to lock her out of her account. She has had to consult and pay a lawyer to regain access.

Renny incurred additional expenses in gas money and time he had to take away from a small start-up business in order to file charges against a person they both now know is an armed and dangerous member of a notorious Venezuelan gang.

Things have continued to spiral downward financially for Renny. Last week after more than 7 months of full time employment at a Chicago factory he was suddenly let go without notice. It had nothing to do with his job performance. He has always received praise and strong evaluations from his supervisor.

This leaves him without any viable means of support for himself and his two young daughters in South America. It also leaves him without money to buy the goods he sells in his part-time business. It’s been one expense after the other for him, including car repairs and medical bills. Nonetheless he continues to give back to the immigrant community and the volunteers who have helped him in Chicago by volunteering on a regular basis at a food pantry.

$5000 isn’t much to some people, but for Renny and Karen it would be a huge windfall . It would help sustain Renny until he is able to once again find full time work. Please help them both in any way you can.