About to become homeless

Hi All-

My name is Robert Smith, and I live in Mound MN, in the same house I have been renting for over 29 years now. I have 3 hunting dogs (Wirehaired Pointing Griffons), and you can see more pictures of them and me on our Facebook dog page, Wolf River Griffons. The house I live in is small (440 sq ft) and very modest, with no garage or basement or anything like that.

Until last year, I was a technical person, computer programming stuff if you will, which I have been doing for a month shy of 20 years now. It is a good job when you can get it, but it can be highly stressful too.

I am an avid hunter (birds, with my dogs) and fisherman...in fact, my grandfather taught me to fish when I was 4 years old, and I have been fishing ever since. I have been involved with Wirehaired Pointing Griffon dogs for about 20 years now, and have been formally involved with dog training for about 15 years. These are my passions...I don't really do much of anything else away from work.

At the end of February 2017, I had the second of two surgeries to help improve a lower body circulation issue. The surgery was basically successful as could reasonably be expected, but that does not mean I am cured of any long term issues in this regard. What that means is that for much of 2017 and 2018 I have been concentrating on building up my strength and endurance through physical activity, both with my dog activities and through basically walking and doing a few strength exercises at home.

In May of 2017, my job, along with the jobs of dozens of others at the company I used to work for were outsourced to India. I cannot blame the company, which was able to acquire more personnel at less cost to improve their bottom line for their investors.

My surgery was paid for by a combination of insurance and my Health Savings Account funds...thank heavens I got the surgery in before I was laid off.

My company did give me a modest severance package, which lasted until August of 2017. At that point, unemployment insurance kicked in, which lasted until the end of January 2018. Also at that point, I went on COBRA for continuing health insurance, which doubled my out-of-pocket premiums.

I realized fairly quickly in the autumn of 2017 that unemployment insurance wasn't going to keep up with the bills and was going to end soon anyways, so I cashed out my small retirement savings.

My health declined some by spring of 2018, and the weather being what it is here in MN, I had to wait until mid-May to get outside for my walks. I needed to do this badly, because I found I was unable to walk more than 5 minutes without significant pain and physical drain.

Beginning of June 2018, I realized that my savings were running out. I cancelled my health insurance and I felt I could at least take on employment in my field if I could find it. Job postings my my expertise, however, are few and far between mid-summer here in the Twin Cities, and so I was not surprised to find the pickings extremely slim until the hiring cycle started a couple weeks after Labor Day.

I have put out dozens of resumes and done several interviews but I have no immediate prospects for employment in my field. According to the hiring reports I get monthly hiring was down like 4.6% in September and down over 10% in October. Even though my rent is only about 50% of market rates in this area, I cannot pay the bills on employment paying $10-$12 per hour, which is the going rate for most jobs around here. Shoot, I even went through the initial job application process for employment with the US Post Office, but after their initial 150-point questionnaire, I was summarily rejected for employment for ANY of their open positions.

And so, here we are. My money ran out at the end of last July. I am 4 months behind on most of my bills. My truck was repossessed 10 days ago and may go up for auction next week, and so I am without transportation. I am in real danger of being removed from my rental house, thus becoming homeless.

I have been selling off anything valuable I have just to keep the dogs in food, but I only have two items left and after that there is little if anything to generate funds from.

I need some help, badly. I need funds, and quickly, to buy myself some time to get on my feet somehow. I wish I didn't have to ask, but I am desperate.

You'll likely ask "Why am I looking for $20,000?", which is a fair question. I remember back in 2003, when I went through a really difficult period of unemployment, where I did not find new employment in my field for 3 years. I had some money to lean on back then, but not today. I need to have a large enough goal that I can weather the storm, hopefully get my truck back next week, and get some health insurance too. I am not eligible for public assistance at this time.

I don't know what else to say...I am desperate and need help now...please help me.

*I don't know how messaging works from GoFundMe, but I'll figure it out and we can chat if there are any other questions you have of me.

*I will post updates as I have them.

Thanks!

Robert