Housing Assistance For Our Friend MJ

This is Michael Jackson, affectionately known to everyone at Cast Iron Trading Co. as MJ.

 

 

 

Chances are, if you've been a Cast Iron customer for a long time MJ has prepared a meal for you. He was an evening chef the first year we opened and played an integral part in helping Cast Iron grow and develop into what it is today. However, everything changed for MJ when he suffered a stroke in 2018.

 

ABOUT MJ

After spending weeks in the hospital, MJ had a long road to recovery in front of him. He was temporarily incapacitated and no longer able to work, and so he soon found himself unhoused. MJ then began living in a tent near the waterfront in Downtown Stockton. After learning this fact, we were able to help him secure temporary disability insurance. He received retroactive payment and was able to purchase an older truck. He then began living out of that truck. Though he was seeking permanent disability status, one year after the stroke, his temporary disability insurance ran out.

 

Around this time MJ was able to come in and help around Cast Iron. Despite being almost entirely deaf and having limited mobility due to the stroke, he was still able to assist with some kitchen prep work and cleaning a few hours a week. Unfortunately, in early 2020 MJ suffered a heart attack and spent more time in the hospital. Now even further physically diminished, he became unable to manage any meaningful work. Fortunately this time, he was granted permanent disability insurance. However unfortunately, the amount he is forced to live on isn’t nearly sufficient in this current economic environment.

 

MJ has a kind heart and a spirit of optimism. He is trustworthy, a hard worker, and almost always has a positive outlook. This is a person who, like so many others, deserves dignity and quality of life, and yet the system has failed him. With no other options, he continues to live out of his truck. Though we’re able to supplement his meager income by occasionally offering him helpful, yet physically manageable tasks, he is simply unable to financially support himself. Over time, MJ has seen his situation go from bad to worse. He is in a hole no one in his position would be able to climb out of.

 

HOW THE FUNDS WILL BE USED

We are using our platform to ask for donations for MJ. The funds will be used in various ways, and 100% of the proceeds will go to him. Ideally, we hope to solve MJs living situation by either purchasing a trailer or RV that he can park somewhere permanently, or to secure enough finances for an apartment's first & last month's rent, a security deposit, and some basic home furnishings. At the very least we’re hoping to earn enough for a camper shell to sleep under as he’s currently sleeping in the cab, as well as some necessary maintenance on his truck.

 

CHALLENGES IN OUR COMMUNITY

We know that the challenges MJ is facing are not unique. A multitude of people in our community face the same situation daily. We feel powerless. MJ is our friend, and we’ve had a front row seat to the system failing him for far too long . We don’t want to see him, or anyone in his position suffer, and we are desperate to see the countless unhoused folks among us in a safe and secure living situation.

 

It’s disheartening and frustrating that we live in a time where we have to create a Go Fund Me for people in MJs situation. We hope that elected officials and community leaders will work to implement real world solutions, and that the members of this community will show compassion and empathy to those less fortunate. If you are able to donate, it would be greatly appreciated. Any amount helps. If we are able to raise enough this could potentially be life changing for MJ. If you have any leads or information that could benefit MJ we are happy to pass that along to him.

 

 

Thank you friends,

 

-Eric Lee