Fighting for my Life and Livelihood

The emergency part of the NOW...

April 6, 2024

My roommate has been encouraging me to branch out and start looking at agencies to help me find my own place. I have been researching this all along and am very close to declaring myself homeless (which, let’s face it, technically I am). I may be checking in to McRest in Mt Clemens as soon as they have an available bed. They provide temporary shelter, meals and job assistance for people with disabilities. They eventually may be able to put me up in a hotel for three months and step up into either section eight housing or affordable housing if I can end up working doing something again. It’s community living initially. I am very scared, but I am feeling a nudge where I am at now. That’s the latest. I still have the go fund me and cash app, PayPal, Zelle and Venmo. All have been helpful, but nothing is guaranteed. Blessings

March 30, 2024

Due to my recent move, I am left with a balance from my old apartment for $600 in fees and half of this past February rent as I hadn’t left a 30 day notice.  The attorney even threatened legal action, which would have took this in to the thousands with court costs. My appeals to them fell on deaf ears and we settled on the final cost.  This and other living expenses leaves me still finding myself in need of assistance, so I am updating and reaching back out.  In a nutshell, thankfully I was able to avoid eviction from donations and since the beginning of this campaign, rent and bills from April through January 2024 are all set. I am very grateful to all who have helped. Now, I have been blessed by a longtime friend who has taken me in to her home. She has her own life circumstances, but had a spare room. So moving forward, I am raising money for my personal expenses and to assist her where I can. I can't thank everybody enough who have gotten me this far from last year till now. The thought of losing my apartment was all-consuming, along with the health issues I have been facing. This just takes it to another level. I am not young. I am not well. I can't be homeless. To say that I feel vulnerable is an understatement. I have been blessed this past year or so by a host of family and a lot of friends, but I do understand that it may be too much for so many who are going through a lot these days. I am trying to raise funds for my living expenses to carry me through the next several months. That's the basic necessities. Below I go in much more detail about my story, but because I am respectful of time, I thought I would lay it all out in the beginning as there is a definitive need. Not wanting to burden any one person with a huge amount, I am a firm believer that every little bit truly does add up and helps.

Here it is... from the beginning -

This has been an incredibly eye-opening and humbling time for me. I have been told kindness is stronger than pride and if you don’t ask for help, you won’t get it if people don’t know you need it. A few friends (who all have helped me this past year in a variety of ways) are the ones who suggested that I start this fundraising campaign. I lost the best job I ever had back in May 2022; due to mass layoffs. I got another job back in July 2022, kept getting sick (that’s when I was diagnosed with neuropathy) and lost the job in October 2022 due to the numerous absences. Since then, of course, I had been looking for work, found a job in January 2023, got sick again and lost it due to illness as well. I have been able to get EBT food assistance, Medicaid and have, again, been blessed by friends and family to get me to this point.

I have applied for more assistance through state and federal programs, but they are all a process. I was initially denied for disability, which I was told by many to expect. Not sure why the things are the way they are, but here we are. I am in the process of appealing that decision through an attorney.

So, what does one do when they are not well, unable to work and in the middle feeling stuck? It has been a difficult time for me and I have almost ultimately given up, but what good is that? That would be a slap in the face to all who have helped and ending my life goes against everything I believe in - though, honestly, the thought has crossed my mind. Thank God for faith and the power of prayer and supportive people, who give me hope during some very dark days.

It is so hard to be in your mid-50s, still viable, still young enough, but also kind of old due to the health issues that I face. Thankfully, now that I have Medicaid, I am back on my medications for diabetes, depression, anxiety, general anxiety disorder and neuropathy, to name a few. However, my nervous condition has steadily gotten worse and I am under care for that. My doctors recently added three new medications to address this and I now have a walker to assist me when I am having mobility issues.

I never thought I would be in this position.

Then when I look back on my life and career and how I used to thrive and not being able to do so now... well, it's disheartening, soul-crushing even. I have written books, have done photography, been in theatrical plays, used to perform in drag shows and was always able to supplement any income with my talents. I simply just can't do that right now. I always have had a job ever since I was 13. I remember when I had three, was in college, doing drag shows or plays and taking care of sick parents and grandparents. My goodness, how times have changed.

Then to lose that awesome job in 2022, one I moved back to Michigan for from Florida back in 2019. I never made so much money or felt so needed in a professional environment and to have the rug pulled out from under all of us was devastating. I did not realize how much so at the time, but I do now. After months of slowly watching my savings dwindle, lifestyle change; cutting off cable, home phone, wi-fi, cutting out credit cards completely, unable to pay for the basics of basics. I am just trying to survive at this point. I need help to get me to whenever these programs I have applied to and assistance to come through; or I am healthy and able enough to return to work.

I thank you again, for your consideration and please know that this decision did not come easy for me. It is hard to ask for help, but my friends who have helped encouraged me to continue to reach out and I know others are struggling. Nobody gets that more than I do. I thank you for your time in reading my story, for your hopeful generosity and any prayers are also much appreciated as well. It will all come back to you tenfold.

Many blessings! I am praying for all of us.