Help West Cover Costs of Roommate's Rent &more

Hello friends!

My name is West - I am a Black, queer, nonbinary artist and teacher. I am a tarot reader, astrologer, and meditation teacher. I am also an assistant teacher at a Montessori school in unceded Seneca and Cayuga territory also known as Ithaca, NY.

The main reason I am asking for your assistance is that I live in a beautiful single-family home on an acre of land, where I moved in with two other folks and was able to comfortably afford the rent, utilities, and land management costs. After both roommates moved out (March and May 2021) and they gave a reasonable effort to find subletters, one friend decided to move up from NYC to fill one of the spots. Thankfully, I was able to pay my portion of the rent until the end of my lease back in April. The lease ends July 31st so I will only need help covering funds for the last month of this lease. Now it is up to my new roommate and I to cover the costs of the rest of the house.

I am also moving into my very first solo studio apartment! A huge shift from being homeless and coach-surfing during many of my years post-graduation. In addition to finishing paying rent, I also have to pay first and last month rent to my new place, moving expenses, and junk removal of the things left here by previous roommates.

In April 2021, my Dad gifted me a car from his uber taxi service (that’s not doing so well especially after he suffered from a stroke earlier this year). I am super grateful to have my first car and the freedom and stability it provides me. There are lots of costs associated with owning a car and while I was and am able to do a lot of work myself - one of the conditions of getting this car was changing the brakes on this and another car and also changing some wheels. I’ve also already done some work on the battery -- the mechanic suggested I get a new battery for winter & I will also need snow tires. And those are just forecasted costs.

I would like to plug some of my future projects that I am excited to offer to you all and to get assistance with by means of this GoFundMe. First, as of June 13th I am a certified meditation teacher through my 200hr training with the Buddhist meditation and yoga studio Three Jewels NYC. Beginning in August, I am excited to offer weekly meditations via Instagram. I am planning to begin a patreon where I will be sharing more meditations, tarot, tarot meditations, astrology, and astrology meditations. Lastly (for now), I was the recipient of a mini-grant that sought to fund a project that supported the Black community. My project is for a podcast that I am working on where I will feature Black, Indigenous, and people of color meditators and meditation teachers.

Your donation will allow me to purchase domain and website materials for the next 2 years as well as help compensate me for the work so I dont have to worry about the time spent on these projects. Your donation will also allow me to rest easy knowing that I will be able to maintain the miracle of a gift that is my car (whose name is Ana short for Anahata). And finally, it will allow me to cover the final costs of this house and move forward into my own living arrangement. If you’re interested in seeing some of the work I have done check out my instagram @westdesertrose and @brujxwest - you can also check out @bipocflowartistry an instagram page I help to moderate where me and the BFA team highlight BIPOC flow artists daily.

Thank you,

West