Help Jon and Amy Start Over
Hello, everyone! I'm Amy and I'm fundraising in an effort to help myself and my family get to a better place. We reside in Western New York state and we're trying to start a business to support ourselves. Our vision is to open a coffee shop/vintage/artisan store/gathering place. We envision a space where artisans could both gather and sell their work and where the community could come together in comfortable and inviting surroundings.
As our friends who read this already know, my husband Jon was in a car accident some years ago which left him with a traumatic brain injury. He has worked hard to come back physically and mentally to the extent that he has been able, but he is still unable to work regular job. The person who hit my husband was grossly underinsured, so we did not, as some might think, recieve any huge insurance payment. The costs of Jon's years long physical/speech/visual and occupational therapies were covered, and we are thankful for that. Jon still struggles with some speech and psychological issues, but he does his best each day.
I had worked as a teacher in South Carolina, but when Covid hit, I resigned my position due to fear and extreme concern for our well-being. My husband is diabetic and I have auto-immune issues that put us in high risk categories. I knew that I would, sooner rather than later, be asked to stand in a room of 30+ students with no guarantees that any would be masked or vaccinated. My husband and I have both been through enough physical illness to risk any potentially more devastating incidents.
We have moved, with our daughter, to rural New York where there is a lower cost of living and there are small, closely-knit communities. We went from a large house in a nice suburb to a small house with a garden and some apple trees. We want to make a life here and connect with our new community in a meaningful way.
Owning and operating a small coffeehouse/store would help us to support ourselves. We want to reach out to the fantastic artists and artisans in our community by offering a space to gather as well as to sell their products. The sale of our house in SC will enable us to have a downpayment on a building, but we will fall short of our goals as far as other important needs go. We are looking at a middle of the line coffee machine, several coffee airpots, a good commercial quality oven (no grill) and refrigerator. Other needs would be signage and inital advertising/start up costs for the business. Also, in order to sell our house in SC, which is becoming a financial buden, some improvements need to be made to it immediately so that we may sell it as soon as possible. We are already working with a realtor to try to achieve this goal.
Most importantly, having a small business would enable us to work on a goal together. These have been difficult years for him, having to go from being gainfully employed as a sales professional to being disabled. We want to make a place for our family and our community to belong, to feel safe, and to be inspired and invigorated. We thank you for reading our story and and helping us if you can. The boost that this would give to our family, especially Jon, would be an immeasurable kindness for which we would be astoundingly thankful and grateful.