Help Me Keep an Old Friend From Losing Her Home

NEWS FLASH: We passed $3,000 last night. I love you for that. Keeping paying it forward, heigh-ho Silver, away! Hi, I'm Shane Gericke, a bestselling crime novelist and award-winning landscape photographer. More important, I help friends in need when I can, and that's why I'm here today. A close friend of mine, well-known and so very helpful to our beloved writing community, has fallen on exceptionally hard times financially. She has no surviving family to fall back on, and nowhere to go, and she is terrified she will lose her home right before the holidays. If you can help her survive for a while longer by participating in this fundraiser in one of four ways (next paragraph), I'll be grateful to you forever. And please, share this post on all your socials if you'd be so kind. The more eyes that see it, the quicker we'll hit the goal and I can quit pestering you :-)

FOUR WAYS TO DONATE: I have four ways for you to donate: through this GoFundMe, which deducts a 3 percent fee for its services and sends to rest to the recipient; Zelle OR PayPal to me, Shane Gericke, which takes 0 fee (mark friend on PayPal for 0 fee; Zelle is always free); or mailing me a check. For that option, message me and I'll give you my mailing address.

These are hard times because America’s low unemployment rate is a mirage. The jobs that are open are primarily low-end service types that, while certainly noble, don’t pay enough to live on. That situation certainly won’t improve any time soon, and trust me, there are way more desperate people out there than the media like to report.

My friend lost her permanent job of fifteen years, and her profitable side business of twenty years, during Covid. Being a Woman of A Certain Age—i.e., employer discrimination against us older folks—she hasn’t been able to find another. With her reading vision issues, she can’t do anything customer service-related, and she is physically incapable of doing manual work because . . . Woman of A Certain Age. She draws a small amount of Social Security each month (no pension because employers got rid of those years ago), but her shortfall is still a lot, and she went through her entire life savings during the pandemic when disaster hit.

She’s been living off a 0% credit card, but the promo rate is running out at the end of this month, and then the ridiculously high interest rate will apply. She is worried about how she can pay the self-employment federal taxes on the small amount of work she was able to find during 2024.

She is currently looking for a roommate to split expenses. She had someone lined up, but then found out some bad information about that person, so my friend is back to square one. Her landlord has been fairly patient with her so far, but is starting to make noises, and with first and last month’s rent and security deposit, plus moving expenses, going somewhere else with her elderly dog is not an option. My friend is a huge animal lover and could never surrender her fur baby just to make her life easier. The city provides her with food through a TNR program, and she takes care of the feral cats in her neighborhood, another reason she is desperate not to leave her home, because who would feed her babies?

Unfortunately, life has been difficult for my friend, who is on the spectrum, has ADHD, and an anxiety and depressive disorder made all worse by her current situation. She’s not lazy, in fact has been taking whatever side gigs she can get, assisting neighbors with doctor’s appointments, groceries, and the like. She applied for Uber, DoorDash, etc., but they all had long waiting lists for drivers, and before she could get in, she had to sell her old car for the cash. She’s already cut her spending to the bare minimum and pawned everything she could, including her beloved mother’s rings.

I don’t ever make these sorts of public appeals, but I’m making an exception here: If she admits to me being this close to disaster, then she’s a lot closer than she says. When I first told her I’d like to dedicate a GoFundMe to her, she said, “No, no, I’ll be fine,” as we all do. I pointed out her reality, and she finally said she would accept this GoFundMe fundraiser only based on anonymity, which I said I would respect. To ensure her privacy, your funds will go to me, and then I will turn them over to her. She finds it horrifying to not be able to pay her own way in this world and would never publicly ask for a dime.

To be clear, this fundraiser isn’t for me, because I’m fine. I’m not making a penny. It’s about being there for a friend I think eminently worthy of your good nature. If you can come to her aid by taking my word that her situation is no scam--I post with my real name, and my website is www.shanegericke.com, also my real name, I was named after the cowboy movie SHANE--then please do so. She will be achingly grateful for any amount, from a dollar to infinity. She is exhausted both mentally and physically, but through it all, has tried to stay positive.

I’m contributing what I can to get her started, and if you are able to kick in five or ten dollars or more, whatever works for your budget, I’d appreciate it immensely. All I can offer is my pledge that this is the real deal, and she is worthy of our help so she can get back on her feet. She has been there for me through thick and thin for almost twenty years, and I hope this allows me to repay some of her kindnesses.

Again, please, share this post on your socials if you are comfortable doing so. The more eyes, the more money. Facebook, TwittX, BlueSky, Instagram, smoke signals, whatever you have.

Thank you from the bottom (and top and middle) of my heart, dear ones. Much love to you all, and the Happiest of Holidays!

Shane

www.shanegericke.com