Emergency Late-Stage Capitalist Dystopic Survival

Hello, we are Kitiryn and Phoenix, two trans folks trying to survive in Sacramento, CA. We've been trying to get back on our feet after a series of financial setbacks and while Kitiryn is about to start work again we need money to get by until then and to help secure ourselves going forward.

What we need:

We need around $1,400 (including platform fees) to get us by while Kitiryn gets started driving with Lyft again. Since we don't have a car anymore, they are using the Express Drive rental program.

Initially, they were supposed to start in the first few days after the new year, but Lyft suspended their account over a supposed 'identity verification' issue during the process of Kitiryn updating their legal name with Lyft. (This was after uploading multiple ID documents, and passing two separate background checks.) Only after reminding Lyft that Lyft paid for the name change through a program with the National Center for Transgender Equality, and that we were going to fight this discrimination, did they relent and reinstate Kitiryn. (This is why the fundraiser is marked as being created earlier than the 10th, btw)

However, this delayed Kitiryn's ability to reserve a vehicle until 1/10/22. On 1/10/22, Lyft sent an email telling Kitiryn that their rental vehicle pickup had been rescheduled until 1/18/22. They didn't provide a reason, just a half-assed "we're sorry for the inconvenience!"

Meanwhile, Phoenix is trying to get his GED since his homeschool High School Diploma is accepted some places but not others (including for FAFSA) and since he can't apply for financial aid to go to one of the local community colleges, he can’t continue his education until he gets his GED.

So now we’re here at the very end of our resources, facing another week before Kitiryn can even pick up the car, much less work enough to start cashing out after the rental fee. Of course, that’s assuming that Lyft will actually follow through, and isn’t trying to ditch a trans driver by stringing them along with bureaucratic nonsense until they give up.

Our immediate needs:

Rent/Utilities - $850.00 (We’re fortunate to have access to a split payment system every two weeks)

Food - $200.00 (We're down to two meals?)

GED + Admin Fee - $145.00

Practice Tests - $30.00

Cellphone - $60.00

Anything you can do to help would be amazing and help give us a bit more peace of mind. Anything over our goal will go to insulating against further developments and supporting any additional action that may be needed to get Lyft to comply with their own policies and agreements. Please help us make it through this hellscape.