liz andry's gotta get out of here, folks!

hi, i'm liz andry. you may know me from online, or perhaps irl from around oakland.

so here's the thing: i'm evicted, and i need to get out of here by mid-january. i do not currently have a solid place to go, a way to get there, the capacity to work (this WILL change, and the reasoning will be clear later), or even the capacity to pack up and/or sell the items that would at least help me get to somewhere else. what i do have is active crohn's disease, ice-cold living conditions, a truck that's pretty broken, anxiety/panic attacks and a cat who is a perfect boy.

here's what i need:

-i need my truck fixed and its registration brought up to date, or to sell it. neither is possible without a mechanic taking a look at it, and i do not have the money for that.

-if not my truck, then a rented moving van or truck for the items i own and wish to keep or that have a high selling value, relative to their physical size. i collected uranium glass before it was cool! it sells at high prices now... but VERY slowly.

-not to live in constant fear and stress about what i am able to get done day-to-day. i've been packing and trying to sell things for months, but stress and the weather both exacerbate my crohn's: putting me in constant pain and exhaustion, causing hypersomnia (my body wants to sleep for about 18hrs per day) and leaving me too sick to get ANY work done about 4 days out of the week. my body needs to recover, whether that inconveniences me or not.

-food. i lost food stamps a few months ago and am largely living on donated food that my friends have to get for me, because something that seems as simple as going to a food bank would take at least a day or two to recover from. i don't eat 2-3 days per week, because just cooking for myself and cleaning the dishes takes more energy than i have. i am stuck in a cycle of diminishing energy. and this is before we add active crohn's into the equation, at which point any food i manage to eat is also going to make me physically ill.

here's why i chose this number as a goal:

-first of all, anytime i try to go through a list of my needs and just guess at the costs, i shut down and become incredibly sad. my executive function is SHOT.

-i don't believe i will hit it.

-if i get anywhere close, i will no longer have to worry about my truck, how to get from here to there, whether or not my disease is going to keep me in bed day-to-day, or how fast i can sell the belongings i need to sell.

-if i make my goal, it still will not cover everything that i would need to have a fighting chance at a future. i am asking for more than my emergency needs, but less than my long-term needs. anything that exceeds moving and food costs (for myself and for garrus, until i have a set place to live and can file for food stamps again) will be used for health and dental insurance premiums, my new treatment (it is... expensive), fixing two shattered molars that add an additional challenge to eating with active crohn's, and other small needs that come up.

the next 6-8 months:

i think i will be living in my mom's garage, in southern california, if i can afford to get down there. because it is warmer outside in socal than it is in my bedroom in oakland, this will be GOOD for me while i start and adjust to my new crohn's treatment: stelara. which seems to have especially-high and quick rates of remission for patients like me! i feel safe in the assumption i will actually be able to re-join the workforce about 6 months after starting treatment. i also expect the first months of treatment to feel like i have been hit by a bus.

my mom has a roommate, whose share of the rent she cannot keep her home without, and who has a good chance of moving out if i move in. i've been told she doesn't even like it when my sister visits for christmas. this is not a good situation for anyone, but my mom refuses to have one of her kids living on the street. especially when my goal of being a normal, working adult again is so close. i was training to become a programmer previously, and plan to spend the uptime i have while i am adjusting to stelara building out a small body of work that WILL get me a job as a junior engineer, no matter how many hundreds of applications it takes. i was viciously ill with crohn's for 6 years before it was diagnosed, and for almost that entire time i was able to house and feed and clothe myself by fighting tooth and nail against my mystery illness to become a rising star in my former career. who, exactly, is going to be able to stop me from doing it all over again? and when i won't even have the same disadvantage that i had back then?

tl;dr

i am so sick, stressed, hungry and scared. i need a relatively-small amount of financial aid to permanently escape this position. if you can, please shoot me some cash or share this. i promise every penny will not only make a sick and about-to-be-unhoused person's life better: it will be an investment in someone who will always remember having been here, and pay it forward.

quicker ways to help:

vnmo: lizandry

c$shapp: lizandry

pypl: lizandry

amazon wishlist: tbd. i need to update it with allergen-reducing cat kibble, allergy meds, supplies for keeping warm, energy drinks (legit? they help me get a few things done on some days i can't get out of bed) and a playstation 5. because if yr gonna ask people for help, you may as well throw something goofy and nonfunctional that you really want on the wishlist.

thank you so much, everyone. it's starting to warm up today, and i think i might be able to list a few more things on craigslist before my energy gives out. <3 <3