Support Jada's Journey to Financial Stability and Healing

Hi! If you know me already, you’ll know some of this as I’ve used this platform before. I’m Jada Reid, a 24 year old woman who lives in St. Louis, Missouri. It's taking a lot to ask for help on all of this, so thank you in advance for being here with me.

I’m coming to gofundme to ask the broader community for any kind of support that could be provided in helping me get back on my feet. All funds will be used to pay for potential repairs (my car will be seen on Tuesday morning), and debt acquired from this situation.

You can also use cashapp/venmo if you're more comfortable with those!

cashapp: $jadareads venmo @jadaereads

Here’s some of my story. For quickness, I will highlight the parts that are most important, while also providing extra information as a way to show all aspects of how this situation is impacting me financially, but emotionally.

I was raised in a low-income household by my single mother and my grandmother both of who worked in low paying jobs. Against a lot of odds pitted up against low income communities, especially those that are predominantly POC, I graduated from college in 2022 and have since then been trying to get on my feet and build my own life.

In February of 2024, shortly after coming home, I made the huge mistake of buying a car from a car lot (Bates Street Motors) that is known for selling faulty cars (but silly Jada didn’t know this, and was being guided by a boss of hers who perhaps did not have her in best intentions). I spent 6,000 dollars on this car, and had to take out a loan in order to cover it. I was desperate for a car as a first step of moving out on my own and creating space for myself to heal from my childhood and who I was before I went to college. When I put down my down payment of 1,000 dollars, I was under the impression that I’d be paid from one of my jobs (in time for the remaining balance to be due) but then I found out that payment was to be broken up into installments…so I had to take out loan #1, as the car place told me they would not hold the car longer than 5 days.

Not even a week later after driving it, the car wouldn’t start. Called the place and they neglected to take any responsibility for a car that wasn’t working properly. Fast forward, I take my car to the shop, it had about 3,000 dollars worth of issues. I took out loan #2.

Fast forward to today, and my car is still breaking down regularly. I just forked out the only money I had to pay 700 dollars for repairs, only for my car to overheat and have a whole other issue.

I don’t have any other way to work as my hours do not align with my mother’s and her car’s engine light just came on. I am currently staying with my grandma as a way to save money, but it isn’t really helping when I can’t afford to pay off my debt, pay for groceries, and pay for a car that isn’t even reliable enough to get me from A to B.

I am constantly spreading myself thin, working anywhere from 2-5 jobs at a time, and despite this, I never ever have enough money to support myself and often my family who needs extra support from me often. It’s never enough.

I’m currently enrolled in services with a nonprofit to learn how to better manage my money and even with these skills— I still can’t save or make enough to cover these expenses.

Extra info:

I wanted to add extra context to explain how this situation has greatly impacted my mental health. I think it’s incredibly important to shine light on how being poor impacts mental health greatly. We need to talk about this more.

About a month ago after switching to a new therapist, I was diagnosed with OCD. When we usually hear of OCD, we don’t think of our peers, family members, or partners. We don’t think of our coworkers standing next to us, the people who are extra quiet or the people who are extra loud trying to drown out the obsessions in their heads. We think of people on tv checking the oven, the light switch. Although this does happen for some cases of OCD, my OCD comes in the form of obsessive overthinking (aka rumination), to the point of intense break down. I so badly did not want to have to ask you all for money as it’s hard to admit that I can’t take care of this on my own. But after trying to find solutions for hours and hours on end for the previous nights which only ends in me uncontrollably sobbing and unable to breathe, I realized I needed help to relieve this anxiety and weight on me. I would not be asking for this money if there was another way.

This is a total of the expenses this money would go towards. I also will include screenshots:

Avant Loan (personal loan I took out):

$4,128

SNAP Loan (to pay for car costs):

$1957.25 dollars

I just have to admit that I can’t get out of this hole alone. Like many of us low income folks, I wasn’t taught how to deal with my finances and now that I’ve been through this, I know what not to do. This is just a heavy reminder that this country isn’t made for working class people and is not made for people who live paycheck to paycheck. I need this support in order to move forward— in order to even imagine moving out and being able to live on my own, let alone afford enough food, paying off my debts and having a car that works in order for me to even get paid.

Thank you so much for reading this. Please consider sharing if you can’t donate. I know it’s a rough time for everyone. Even 100 dollars would help me get back on track. If by some magical odds I raise more than I need, the rest of that money would be donated to other gofundme’s. I hope to one day have enough money to not only support myself, but aid in supporting others regularly. Without each other, we don’t have very much in this country, especially right now.

With love,

Jada