Get the Geddie family into permanent housing

(Transcribed on behalf of Michael Jerome Braxton, aka Rrome Alone, by his creative team)

Dear Friends,

I need your help.

My dear friend Malcolm Geddie, known by his Muslim name Umar, passed away while on death row in 2017. I took care of Umar during his final days making sure he ate, took his medicine, bathed, and I kept him company. At the time, I had no idea he was dying. He told me he was just experiencing the side effects of a new medicine to cure hepatitis C. I would find out much later that he had actually been diagnosed with incurable stomach cancer but chose not to disclose it to anyone. When his condition worsened I earnestly urged him to seek medical help, but he insisted that he would not go to the hospital.

I was told later that he preferred to die around his brothers, the Muslims on death row. The people he knew cared for him.

A day or so before he died, his condition deteriorated. He lost control of his bowels and me and another brother cleaned him and changed his linens. I knew he needed greater care than I was able to provide. I told him that I was going to talk to the staff and tell them that he needed emergency medical care. I didn't know what else to do.

Finally, he consented. But before the staff came to get him, he gave me the phone number to his Granddaughter, LaSherron Geddie, and asked me to call her and let her know what was going on. I did. She was able to visit him at the hospital before he died. The Islamic Association of Raleigh buried him and we prayed a special prayer for him on death row.

This Sunday, July 31st, 2022, I saw his granddaughter's face on the front page of the Raleigh News and Observer. She is homeless and has been living in an extended-stay hotel for over two months. She is a college graduate with two degrees and she is a mother of five with three children with Autism.

In 2020, after extended medical leave due to blood cancer and fibromyalgia, she lost her job. In March of this year - 2022 - after a disagreement with her private housing assistance agent and the property owner, she and her children were evicted from the apartment she rented in Cary. Although she received $3364/ month in disability payments for her kids who have autism, as well as $500/ month in food stamps, after responsibly making her car payment, paying insurance, phone bills, medical co-pays, rental application fees, gas and other expenses, she doesn't have enough to pay a deposit and first months rent for an apartment.

When I saw her name and face in the newspaper, I immediately thought of her grandfather and I felt compelled to try and help her in some way. I still had her phone number despite only speaking to her once over five years ago. I decided to try and contacted her. She answered. After a brief moment of reintroduction, I told her I wanted to try to help her somehow though it might be small or how to do it.

The next morning Allah put it on my heart to reach out to some of the people I know in my network of friends to see if we could pool enough money together to help her with at least a deposit or first month's rent. I called her again and asked her how much she would need, to which she replied "about $1200."

By the grace of Allah, I was informed this morning that I would be able to help her with $500 in pursuit of the goal of finding an apartment! This means she only needs $700 more dollars! With the help of my friend Michael Betts we've set up this GofundMe account to raise the remaining needed money.

I'm appealing to you, my friends, to help me raise the remaining balance. It would mean a lot to me, but it would mean so much more to her and her family; thank you!

Michael "Rrome Alone" Braxton & Michael A. Betts, II