Hello Friends,
This is Jo D'Anna and I am asking humbly and sincerely for your financial help, as a senior on poverty income and a songwriter in Marin County. I would greatly appreciate your taking a little time to read through the entire story so you understand why I need to ask for financial help at this time.
First, I am a singer-songwriter. Since 1990, I have been (up until 2012 when I could no longer afford the membership dues) an award-winning member of West Coast Songwriters and a professional performing songwriter/guitarist, having released two CD's independently (see my website: www.jodanna.com). As a songwriter, I'm a bit of a late-bloomer as I started writing songs at the age of 40, so I was already much older than most songwriters who start in their 20's. I have independently released two CD albums in 1995 and 2007.
More importantly to the point of this funding campaign, I am also a 66-year old senior woman surviving only on Social Security benefits. Now, I am in dire need of financial help--1) both to help me stay in my little humble Forest Knolls cottage which I share with my beloved 9-year old cats in San Geronimo Valley (West Marin), and 2) a little extra money up front to help me launch a simple new recording project (as a professional songwriter, it's important to keep producing albums or you disappear to the public).
In February of 2010, I stopped working. I was formerly a Legal/Litigation Secretary in San Francisco and Marin for over 27 years. It was a good paying job, but it was extremely stressful and hard for me--being a sensitive artist as I am--and finally, when I lost my last job in 2010, having been diagnosed by my therapist with chronic anxiety, chronic depression and PTSD, I couldn't work, even if I wanted to. Besides that, there was the economic downturn which I suffered from greatly, and lost many jobs from 2007-2010 which all contributed to, or perhaps partially caused by, my mental/emotional problems.
I decided at that point in February 2010 that I would apply for permanent disability, based on the above diagnoses, which I was able to qualify for, as I was certified by my therapist. Unfortunately, with SSDI, it makes it almost impossible for you to work and earn a decent supplemental income because if you go over the income limits from work (about $1,070), you will lose your SSDI benefits permanently. So I didn't work but very minimally. I tried to find employment that would pay me under the limits or under-the-table, but it was impossible. I decided to live on my savings--which was a cashed in Roth IRA account which I had saved all the years I worked. I used my savings to supplement my SSDI benefits, about $800-$1000 average per month on the average, to pay for rent, utilities, auto expenses and repair, medical & dental costs, food, and on and on.
Consequently, after 6 years of living on SSDI supplemented by my limited savings account, I am now running dangerously low--I am down to my last $4,000 of savings (I started with approximately $50,000 in 2011 when I cashed in my Roth IRA, for which I had to also had to pay a $6,600.00 tax penalty). This means I have only a few months to live before I run out of savings completely and will not be able to afford living here and pay the current rent ($1,400 + utilities of about $250, including water, garbage, PG&E, AT&T, propane, and landscaping). Over the past 6 years I have also acquired about a $10,000 debt--for just rudimentary, necessary things like car repairs, dental work, veteranarian bills, etc., none of that debt was spent on excess items in any way.
Here in Marin County, unfortunately (and also the entire San Francisco Bay Area), rents have been skyrocketing. My rent has been going up $100 every year for the last 4 years. This is very difficult for me on a fixed, low income. Also, Marin County has very, very limited affordable housing. Affordable Housing is actually a big controversial issue in Marin politics at this time because so many of the "powers that be" are voting it down.
Why don't I just get a job? Well, in fact I have been diligently looking, every single day for a long, long time with very disappointing results. I am now off SSDI and receiving regular Social Security benefits, so I CAN work, but I haven't been able to find anything. I'm not sure if the problem is because of my age or what exactly. I am a very highly-skilled and experienced Legal Secretary, but I cannot seem to find a job in my previous employment to save my life. No one will hire me. I have gone to about 5 staffing agencies with no results, I apply for jobs on my own every single day and never hear back. I am on several job lists and nothing is coming up. I have, over these past 6 years, worked in part-time situations in some nearby food and hospitality jobs, but for whatever reason, the jobs were totally wrong for me, the pay was too low, and I had to leave.
The other issue is that I have absolutely no family or close friends to help me out in this financial and housing crisis I find myself in. I am an only child with no father, no siblings, no cousins, no adult children and no extended family--only an elderly mother who is 94-1/2 years of age, chronically ill and in need of professional caregiving help. Therefore, she has very limited ability to help me financially because she needs to keep her money to hire her own professional caregiving/medical help (and possibly relocating to an assisted living facility), which costs will undoubtedly increase in the coming years.
I'm seriously running out of money at a rapid rate with only a few months left of my diminishing savings account to supplement my Social Security benefits. I really need to raise these funds by the end of the year, which is when I predict I will be completely broke and my savings will be depleted. I also need money to pay for psychotherapy--I stopped going 8 months ago because I could no longer afford it.
Perhaps you are now asking, "why don't you try to earn income as a songwriter"? That's an important question which I will attempt to answer: It's very hard to earn a sustainable income as a solo performing songwriter unless you have the money to promote yourself (posters, marketing costs, etc.), and unless you go on tour nationally. In this funding campaign, I am asking not only for living expenses to help me survive another 2 years, but also some money to launch a simple new recording project to help promote my music and get performing gigs (it's very hard to promote your work if it's "old", and my last CD was released in 2007). I am not a touring musician, because at my age I would have a hard time running around the country and leaving my cats at home, so I try to stay locally in the greater San Francisco Bay Area for my performances, which I have done since 1993. Also, I am an acoustic folk-style songwriter, so my style of music is not suitable for bars, where it's easier to make money.
Friends, I would be so eternally grateful if I could get your support in these very hard times for me now. All the energy I need for songwriting, finding gigs and promoting myself are taken up by a full-time job search for a simple part-time "day job", which is not paying off at all for me and is sapping me of my creative energy and causing me to dive into a depression and state of chronically high anxiety and distress. I am also very concerned about my elderly mother and I have to be there for her whenever I can to help out (since I'm her only family), which is hard to do when I'm working.
So, to recap what I am asking for financially: about $12,000 per year to live on for 2 years ($24,000 approx.) plus another approx. $6,000 for recording and promotional costs for a new CD project = $30,000.
It would mean SO much to me to get your financial support which would be also an encouragement for me to continue as a songwriter. In return, I would love to send you as many copies as you want of either or both of my CD titles as a show of gratitude (see my website @ www.jodanna.com). If you send me an e-mail through my website with your mailing address, I can mail them immediately upon receipt of your donation (also sign up on my website to be added to my mailing list so you know where I'll be performing next).
Thank you so much for supporting a senior artist-in-need, dear friends. Words cannot convey how grateful I would be for your donations. Perhaps I'll write a song at the end of the campaign just for all of you!
Much love & many blessings,
Jo D'Anna
This is Jo D'Anna and I am asking humbly and sincerely for your financial help, as a senior on poverty income and a songwriter in Marin County. I would greatly appreciate your taking a little time to read through the entire story so you understand why I need to ask for financial help at this time.
First, I am a singer-songwriter. Since 1990, I have been (up until 2012 when I could no longer afford the membership dues) an award-winning member of West Coast Songwriters and a professional performing songwriter/guitarist, having released two CD's independently (see my website: www.jodanna.com). As a songwriter, I'm a bit of a late-bloomer as I started writing songs at the age of 40, so I was already much older than most songwriters who start in their 20's. I have independently released two CD albums in 1995 and 2007.
More importantly to the point of this funding campaign, I am also a 66-year old senior woman surviving only on Social Security benefits. Now, I am in dire need of financial help--1) both to help me stay in my little humble Forest Knolls cottage which I share with my beloved 9-year old cats in San Geronimo Valley (West Marin), and 2) a little extra money up front to help me launch a simple new recording project (as a professional songwriter, it's important to keep producing albums or you disappear to the public).
In February of 2010, I stopped working. I was formerly a Legal/Litigation Secretary in San Francisco and Marin for over 27 years. It was a good paying job, but it was extremely stressful and hard for me--being a sensitive artist as I am--and finally, when I lost my last job in 2010, having been diagnosed by my therapist with chronic anxiety, chronic depression and PTSD, I couldn't work, even if I wanted to. Besides that, there was the economic downturn which I suffered from greatly, and lost many jobs from 2007-2010 which all contributed to, or perhaps partially caused by, my mental/emotional problems.
I decided at that point in February 2010 that I would apply for permanent disability, based on the above diagnoses, which I was able to qualify for, as I was certified by my therapist. Unfortunately, with SSDI, it makes it almost impossible for you to work and earn a decent supplemental income because if you go over the income limits from work (about $1,070), you will lose your SSDI benefits permanently. So I didn't work but very minimally. I tried to find employment that would pay me under the limits or under-the-table, but it was impossible. I decided to live on my savings--which was a cashed in Roth IRA account which I had saved all the years I worked. I used my savings to supplement my SSDI benefits, about $800-$1000 average per month on the average, to pay for rent, utilities, auto expenses and repair, medical & dental costs, food, and on and on.
Consequently, after 6 years of living on SSDI supplemented by my limited savings account, I am now running dangerously low--I am down to my last $4,000 of savings (I started with approximately $50,000 in 2011 when I cashed in my Roth IRA, for which I had to also had to pay a $6,600.00 tax penalty). This means I have only a few months to live before I run out of savings completely and will not be able to afford living here and pay the current rent ($1,400 + utilities of about $250, including water, garbage, PG&E, AT&T, propane, and landscaping). Over the past 6 years I have also acquired about a $10,000 debt--for just rudimentary, necessary things like car repairs, dental work, veteranarian bills, etc., none of that debt was spent on excess items in any way.
Here in Marin County, unfortunately (and also the entire San Francisco Bay Area), rents have been skyrocketing. My rent has been going up $100 every year for the last 4 years. This is very difficult for me on a fixed, low income. Also, Marin County has very, very limited affordable housing. Affordable Housing is actually a big controversial issue in Marin politics at this time because so many of the "powers that be" are voting it down.
Why don't I just get a job? Well, in fact I have been diligently looking, every single day for a long, long time with very disappointing results. I am now off SSDI and receiving regular Social Security benefits, so I CAN work, but I haven't been able to find anything. I'm not sure if the problem is because of my age or what exactly. I am a very highly-skilled and experienced Legal Secretary, but I cannot seem to find a job in my previous employment to save my life. No one will hire me. I have gone to about 5 staffing agencies with no results, I apply for jobs on my own every single day and never hear back. I am on several job lists and nothing is coming up. I have, over these past 6 years, worked in part-time situations in some nearby food and hospitality jobs, but for whatever reason, the jobs were totally wrong for me, the pay was too low, and I had to leave.
The other issue is that I have absolutely no family or close friends to help me out in this financial and housing crisis I find myself in. I am an only child with no father, no siblings, no cousins, no adult children and no extended family--only an elderly mother who is 94-1/2 years of age, chronically ill and in need of professional caregiving help. Therefore, she has very limited ability to help me financially because she needs to keep her money to hire her own professional caregiving/medical help (and possibly relocating to an assisted living facility), which costs will undoubtedly increase in the coming years.
I'm seriously running out of money at a rapid rate with only a few months left of my diminishing savings account to supplement my Social Security benefits. I really need to raise these funds by the end of the year, which is when I predict I will be completely broke and my savings will be depleted. I also need money to pay for psychotherapy--I stopped going 8 months ago because I could no longer afford it.
Perhaps you are now asking, "why don't you try to earn income as a songwriter"? That's an important question which I will attempt to answer: It's very hard to earn a sustainable income as a solo performing songwriter unless you have the money to promote yourself (posters, marketing costs, etc.), and unless you go on tour nationally. In this funding campaign, I am asking not only for living expenses to help me survive another 2 years, but also some money to launch a simple new recording project to help promote my music and get performing gigs (it's very hard to promote your work if it's "old", and my last CD was released in 2007). I am not a touring musician, because at my age I would have a hard time running around the country and leaving my cats at home, so I try to stay locally in the greater San Francisco Bay Area for my performances, which I have done since 1993. Also, I am an acoustic folk-style songwriter, so my style of music is not suitable for bars, where it's easier to make money.
Friends, I would be so eternally grateful if I could get your support in these very hard times for me now. All the energy I need for songwriting, finding gigs and promoting myself are taken up by a full-time job search for a simple part-time "day job", which is not paying off at all for me and is sapping me of my creative energy and causing me to dive into a depression and state of chronically high anxiety and distress. I am also very concerned about my elderly mother and I have to be there for her whenever I can to help out (since I'm her only family), which is hard to do when I'm working.
So, to recap what I am asking for financially: about $12,000 per year to live on for 2 years ($24,000 approx.) plus another approx. $6,000 for recording and promotional costs for a new CD project = $30,000.
It would mean SO much to me to get your financial support which would be also an encouragement for me to continue as a songwriter. In return, I would love to send you as many copies as you want of either or both of my CD titles as a show of gratitude (see my website @ www.jodanna.com). If you send me an e-mail through my website with your mailing address, I can mail them immediately upon receipt of your donation (also sign up on my website to be added to my mailing list so you know where I'll be performing next).
Thank you so much for supporting a senior artist-in-need, dear friends. Words cannot convey how grateful I would be for your donations. Perhaps I'll write a song at the end of the campaign just for all of you!
Much love & many blessings,
Jo D'Anna