Help the Laus Keep Their Home

When Ken and I met, it was during the worst point in my journey with severe chronic illness.

I became unable to work due to neurological issues that caused painful spasms and difficulty with mobility. I was unable to walk without a cane, walker, or wheelchair. I also experienced migraines, endometriosis, and suspected lupus. I have undergone multiple surgeries, and shaved my head to make maintaining hygiene more manageable.

After 10 years of working in early childhood education as a teacher and preschool director, I had to resign. My health deteriorated to the point that I was unable to maintain a job as a supermarket cashier, even with FMLA.

I moved across the country in March 2017 to live with my sister, who offered to help support me while I applied for Medicaid and disability. I was unfortunately denied for disability benefits.

I met Ken through mutual friends on Thanksgiving 2017. We quickly became friends and began dating the next summer. I was hesitant to get into a romantic relationship because I didn’t want to be a burden, but Ken never shied away. He gladly carried me up and down the stairs of our second floor apartment every single day, and held my hand through every flare up and hospital visit.

In our relationship, Ken has been my caretaker, as well as working, taking care of our pets, and now our two children. Although I’m so grateful that my health has improved since then, I still struggle, and it has had a drastic and lasting impact on our situation that we have not been able to overcome.

In 2021 Ken and I both got COVID. Ken was hospitalized and later put on oxygen, I was in and out of the ER with pneumonia, and our 11 month old son had to go stay with my sister for several weeks. As attachment parents, it was extremely difficult to separate from our son but we had no choice, and we are so deeply grateful for that support. During this time, he began calling my sister “Mama” and was visibly confused when he saw us again. This also abruptly ended our breastfeeding journey - when he finally came home he would no longer latch. It was extremely traumatic for him, and all of us. This experience is when we began to fall behind on bills and rent, and we’ve had difficulty catching up ever since.

Ken’s work in commercial HVAC slowed in December of 2023, and he got laid off in February shortly before I had our daughter and has been out of work since. Although we are extremely grateful to receive government assistance, and unemployment benefits as of April, right now what we receive is not covering our rent, bills, and basic necessities like diapers, wipes, and toilet paper. Ken has been diligently looking for work, and donating plasma twice a week. It has been a challenge to find an open position that is full time and pays enough to offset the additional financial loss our family would incur by losing our benefits including Medicaid, SNAP, and WIC.

In addition to being unstable with housing, we are currently 5 months (over $2,400) behind on our car payment, and have received notice of repossession. Registration expired in March and we have been financially unable to renew. On 7/3, Ken got ticketed for expired registration when he had to report to the courthouse for jury duty. Then on 7/5, he was pulled over and given another ticket on his way to meet up with someone who was gifting food to our family. At this time our car is being kept in our garage until it is inevitably repossessed. We have no alternate form of transportation, and now have have hundreds of dollars in parking and traffic tickets added onto our debt as well.

We have also fallen behind on electric, gas, and water bills. In April, our daughter underwent oral surgery that was not covered by insurance and cost over $500, not including pain relief medications.

We have been utilizing diaper banks and our local “buy nothing” group, as well as a charity program from a local restaurant for free sandwiches to offset costs. We’ve been borrowing wifi hotspots from our local libraries in order to have access to internet. As of 7/5 we no longer have access to these resources due to lack of transportation.

Through these past years of juggling bills and accruing debt, our landlord has been so kind, gracious, and patient. We have maintained a verbal agreement to work together as long as we continued paying what we can toward the back balance. Our landlord has gone above and beyond to accommodate and support us, but of course we understand that she has her own responsibilities and struggles as well. At the end of May, our landlord informed us that we either need to pay off our back rent balance of $10,000 by 6/30/24, or face eviction on 7/1. (*The deadline has been extended for now, see update for details.)

Even if we are able to achieve a miracle and pay off the back rent balance, our housing situation remains uncertain. We need to be able to pay our monthly rent moving forward, and at this point we don’t know whether our landlord will be willing to renew our lease which expires in September. And if the lease is renewed, we face a potential rent increase as well.

Although our financial crisis expands beyond rent, we are prioritizing keeping our family housed. Right now we don’t have another place to go. We are doing everything we can think of to earn and save, and just praying for a miracle.

We definitely understand times are tough for many right now, and this campaign is a last resort. If anyone is in a position to help by sharing or donating, it would truly mean the world to us and our children.

$10,000 is the total amount owed in back rent. Any additional funds raised beyond that amount will be used to get current on other bills that have fallen behind, secure transportation, cover necessities like diapers, pay rent and/or moving costs going forward, and to serve the well-being of our children and our family.

We are also open to leads on jobs and housing, as well as assistance programs we may not have heard of or tried. If you know anybody looking for energy work or side/cash jobs please keep us in mind. Thank you so much!!

With love & gratitude,

Michelle & Ken Lau