Support Renee and Her Daughter Moving to a Safe Home

Hey Y'all! WreckItRenee here!

Two years ago, I took the daring move to uproot my life from California to New Jersey. My daughter had turned 18 and left the nest, California's prices and living expenses kept rising, and so I decided to leave. I am not going to lie when I say that it has been some of the most difficult two years of my life. Those that know me best know that that is a bold statement because my life has always been insane. Safe to say, things have NOT turned out as planned.

Atlantic City is a rough place. When I first arrived, the property that I had rented and paid rent 3 months in advance for, along with deposits, was non-existent. I was scammed. Even though the person renting me the place did a few walkthroughs on video with me, it was a scam. I immediately was down thousands of dollars and had no place to live. But that didn't make me turn around with my tail between my legs and head back to California. With some help from a close friend, I was able to move into an Airbnb for the time being.

About a month and a half later, my daughter called me and told me she needed help. She was in a bad situation and had nowhere to go. I told her she always has a place to stay with me, so I flew her out from California. Mind you, the place to stay was the couch. She showed up with a suitcase and no panties. (Trust me there's a story behind it.)

During this time, we were both on the hunt for solid employment so that we could qualify to move into an apartment. We both started working and got desperate to move out from the Airbnb. The Airbnb was owned by some college kids and it was located in the basement of their house. When I say I thought people in Cali partied hard, I am telling you that people in Jersey are insane. At times, the floor above me looked as if it were going to cave in from them jumping around so much. There was no resting or quiet time. So we took the first opportunity of an apartment that had open units. Boy, was that a mistake.

The building that we moved into had very open occupancy at first. It was us and one other unit that was occupied. We had learned quickly that we didn't choose the right area of town. From consistent visible drug use in the back alleyway, to one night my daughter having to call an ambulance for the guy laying there bleeding out from a gunshot wound, definitely not my idea of a safe home. We had no other choice but to make the best of it. Then, other units started getting occupied. My packages started getting stolen. Obvious gang members and drug dealers were hanging out all day and night in our front entryway. I started notifying the building Supe about it all and it all kept getting brushed off. They would fix the front door handle, and the gang members would break it so they wouldn't need a key to enter. I would ask if they saw camera footage of them sleeping on our stairs late at night and would get no response (later to find out the camera doesn't even work). When I would need to exit the building, or my daughter, we have been getting physically and verbally harassed by them daily. At times, I have had to force them out of my way to get by. It's been a consistent cycle for about a year.

Fast forward to as of late. The police were called. My daughter got so fed up with a situation with them one evening, she called the police while I was at work. One of the gang members' lookouts saw that she was talking to the police officer, and that she gave them a key to get into the building, and alerted his friends inside sleeping. The gang members ran out the back exit of the building. I had then again told my building Supe about the situation and he was on vacation. I even sent him camera footage of them sleeping on the stairs. He finally went to the police station and filed a request for hourly walkthroughs of the building and gave them a key. I have yet to see or hear one police officer come through. Now though that they are aware that my daughter called the police, we are being targeted and intimidated. I have a front door camera and have footage of multiple men in masks walking up to my door and seeing the camera and pivoting away. And about 20 times daily they walk by and blatantly look into the camera to let me know they are watching. The comments from them daily are very frightening. My Supe told me they have filed for an eviction for one of the units that are involved, but that could take months to actually get them out with the courts. The other unit involved, he said they pay their rent and are denying involvement so there's nothing he can really do.

So safe to say, we do not feel safe one bit. So, this is me asking for help. This is not like me. I have been a very strong and independent person for my entire life, but right now I don't really know what to do. About 3 months ago, I had to have emergency surgery. I was out of work the entire time and had to use money that I was saving to move (because I have been trying to for over a year, but something always seems to happen) to pay my bills and survive. I was on disability, but that only covered 70% of my income so saving extra became difficult. So I am stuck. The $5,500 I am asking for help with will cover all move-in expenses in the new SAFER apartment and GoFund me fees. I will also be saving as much as I can as well. If you can help, I really REALLY appreciate it. If you can't, but can share this with someone who may be willing to, I really appreciate you as well.