Keep Gabby and Simon Going
Donation protected
Congrats to Simon Q for being the lucky recipient of the TreeHuggery custom commission! Entries are now closed but the gofundme will remain open since we are just short of the needed amount to get Gabby and the mutts back to the US.
Thank you to everyone who participated and shared!
Jackie of TreeHuggery is offering a chance to help us and for you to win a prize of a piece of original art; in the form of a commission. You can see examples of commissions she has completed here.
Entries to win can be bought at £5 per entry from our GoFundMe site and you can enter multiple times--£5/$5 for one entry, £20 buys you 4 entries and £100 gets you 20 entries.
Jackie will liaise with the winner in January to create something truly personal; She specialises in making pictures of quirky outdoorsy people...e.g runners, cyclists, caravan and campers...but with a difference they're made from memorabilia, ephemera and found materials that have a connection between what is used and what they become so road runners are out of road maps, camp fires are out of matches and twigs.
SO HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO: After you donate here go to the facebook post and state your number of entries or if you prefer email us the number at [email redacted]. The Winner will be drawn from a hat on the 22nd of December (hopefully we will also be able to livestream as well) and Jackie will start liaising with them in the new year to create a piece 18 x 43 cm. (this will be sent free of charge - unframed to the States - framed in a frame 23 x 50 cm in the UK).
Now this is the hard part: Talking about us, Gabby and Simon. Many of you are aware of our story and have been following since the beginning but some are just now hearing about us. It all started last year when we became aware that Gabby's UK spouse/cp (she's American) would not be renewed under the UK Home Office income requirements based upon our self-employment earnings and Gabby's income would not be counted towards that amount required at all.
Lured by the promise of work within Simon's specialty on Malta we started making plans to relocate there and based upon not one but two employment offers and one of Gabby's jobs ending earlier than expected we loaded up the Mondeo with everything we thought we would need plus our dogs Ben and Elsie a month ahead of schedule. However what we didn't realise was that the ferry prices from Sicily to Malta had more than tripled and the rental prices for flats had soared since our research in the spring.
Ben and Elsie
It turns out the job offers were bogus, a common ploy by recruiters to lure people there in order to bulk up their numbers--something that was confirmed by a person in the American Embassy and various other people who had fallen prey to the same thing. We have been living out of the car since then while continuing to look for work in other countries within the EU and it seems like our lives have become almost a comedy in what could go wrong next.
Last night was the latest of what could go wrongs, Simon hit a concealed curb (kerb in UK speak) at 50 mph (well below the posted speed limit) after cresting a hill and ripped open both tyres on the driver's side of the car. Thankfully he didn't overcorrect and we including the dogs are all ok. Turns out this is a nightly occurrence according to the pub landlord who allowed us to stay in his carpark after we asked and the night prior to our incident there were TWO instances of cars catching the same kerb and damaging their vehicles.
We are very grateful to our friends for their support and help and the kind words they have given when we have been at our lowest. We look forward to the day when we can begin to repay those who have helped us along this journey.
Thank you so very much.
Gabby and Simon
Ben and Elsie
*Please follow us on facebook
*Follow Treehuggery on Facebook
*Treehuggery's Personalised Gifts and Commissions : Raffle is for the 18x43cm size picture
Thank you to everyone who participated and shared!
Jackie of TreeHuggery is offering a chance to help us and for you to win a prize of a piece of original art; in the form of a commission. You can see examples of commissions she has completed here.
Entries to win can be bought at £5 per entry from our GoFundMe site and you can enter multiple times--£5/$5 for one entry, £20 buys you 4 entries and £100 gets you 20 entries.
Jackie will liaise with the winner in January to create something truly personal; She specialises in making pictures of quirky outdoorsy people...e.g runners, cyclists, caravan and campers...but with a difference they're made from memorabilia, ephemera and found materials that have a connection between what is used and what they become so road runners are out of road maps, camp fires are out of matches and twigs.
SO HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO: After you donate here go to the facebook post and state your number of entries or if you prefer email us the number at [email redacted]. The Winner will be drawn from a hat on the 22nd of December (hopefully we will also be able to livestream as well) and Jackie will start liaising with them in the new year to create a piece 18 x 43 cm. (this will be sent free of charge - unframed to the States - framed in a frame 23 x 50 cm in the UK).
Now this is the hard part: Talking about us, Gabby and Simon. Many of you are aware of our story and have been following since the beginning but some are just now hearing about us. It all started last year when we became aware that Gabby's UK spouse/cp (she's American) would not be renewed under the UK Home Office income requirements based upon our self-employment earnings and Gabby's income would not be counted towards that amount required at all.
Lured by the promise of work within Simon's specialty on Malta we started making plans to relocate there and based upon not one but two employment offers and one of Gabby's jobs ending earlier than expected we loaded up the Mondeo with everything we thought we would need plus our dogs Ben and Elsie a month ahead of schedule. However what we didn't realise was that the ferry prices from Sicily to Malta had more than tripled and the rental prices for flats had soared since our research in the spring.
Ben and ElsieIt turns out the job offers were bogus, a common ploy by recruiters to lure people there in order to bulk up their numbers--something that was confirmed by a person in the American Embassy and various other people who had fallen prey to the same thing. We have been living out of the car since then while continuing to look for work in other countries within the EU and it seems like our lives have become almost a comedy in what could go wrong next.
Last night was the latest of what could go wrongs, Simon hit a concealed curb (kerb in UK speak) at 50 mph (well below the posted speed limit) after cresting a hill and ripped open both tyres on the driver's side of the car. Thankfully he didn't overcorrect and we including the dogs are all ok. Turns out this is a nightly occurrence according to the pub landlord who allowed us to stay in his carpark after we asked and the night prior to our incident there were TWO instances of cars catching the same kerb and damaging their vehicles.
We are very grateful to our friends for their support and help and the kind words they have given when we have been at our lowest. We look forward to the day when we can begin to repay those who have helped us along this journey.
Thank you so very much.
Gabby and Simon
Ben and Elsie
*Please follow us on facebook
*Follow Treehuggery on Facebook
*Treehuggery's Personalised Gifts and Commissions : Raffle is for the 18x43cm size picture
Organizer
Gabby Simon
Organizer