Restore Independence for a Struggling Family

We are a family of 5 living in North Louisiana. We have never had a lot of money. My husband has a bad back from previous jobs that required him to carry heavy stuff. The only job that anyone is willing to give him is a job that would require him to put more pressure on his bent spine. I decided to get back in school in hopes of becoming qualified for a job that would better support the family. However, when I was officially hired for a lower paying job, I accepted it out of desperation and had to leave school again. There are two adult children in the household and one thirteen year old. My daughter is 20 and in college and has to be taken to and from the campus because some classes are not available online. My oldest son is 19, has autism and diabetes. He cannot take care of himself independently. He requires frequent supervision because he does not seem to understand how sick he is. We are only able to afford his healthcare items through a disability check. It can not cover all medical costs. In any case, we have to make frequent trips to the pharmacy because multiple people in the household are using prescription medication. I have various medications for bipolar disorder and anxiety and one of them causes me to gain weight. I also cannot lose weight due to a thyroid issue. However, I cannot get surgery done on my swollen legs unless I lose weight. The eldest child and the youngest son struggle with acid reflux. There are certain foods that their body will reject immediately, like meat. My daughter uses prescription medication for her depression and acid reflux as well

Unfortunately, the transmission in our car needs to be replaced and the motor “reprogrammed”, whatever that means. There is always something wrong with the car. This time, restoring it will cost $6,000. We do not have that kind of money. We usually spend the majority of it on groceries and household items. Not to mention we have to pay for water and electricity. Our oven does not work. It can only broil, it cannot bake anything and we cannot afford to replace it. Our washing machine appears to spew out water and not drain it properly.My husband has to drain the water out of the machine with a bucket (that is actually just a trash can), and our dryer machine does not filter out lint properly, so it blows outside through the ducts. The bathroom sink is leaking. Parts of the kitchen floor have been damaged from impact. After our house fire in 2010, our lives have been rather difficult. We lost a lot of valuable photographs and memories. We live in an area that is riddled with crime. My husband's bike (that his father gave him) was stolen years ago and our old car was vandalized and had the CD player stolen and the back window busted. People are getting shot and carjacked near us. We happen to live in the safer part of the neighborhood, but we are still in close proximity to drug and murder activity on the news every week. In regards to transportation, we have been using ride-sharing services to get places or delivery services to receive groceries and household items, but we can’t do this forever. We need our car to be fixed so we can be independent in that regard again. We no longer have a mortgage on our house but taxes and insurance still have to be paid on the house every year. As for government benefits, we do have disability for my son but we don't qualify for anything else due to me having a job and freelancing. Our savings were used up the last time the car needed work earlier this year.

Please help us raise the money so we can at least fix the car and pay the taxes and insurance on the house to gain our independence again. Thank you. Every penny counts.