Hi, I'm David, and I am fundraising so that my family and I, our dogs and cats, along with the two organizations in which I am active can remain in our home without enduring foreclosure. As of our last check, we are behind by about $6,400 in mortgage and an additional series of fees that have been added on to our total, to bring us to $8,200. However, that was as of January. Now that February is here, and March will soon be here, we need roughly $10,000 to catch up on the mortgage and keep us here. Our current payments are $935 per month. As we have an FHA mortgage, we cannot re-modify our mortgage, because we have had to do so twice before.

Since July, we have encountered numerous setbacks. On July 2, our 2017 GMC Terrain stopped running. The car needs a new engine and a new transmission. Without our vehicle, we spent much of the summer walking to go grocery shopping and elsewhere for whatever we needed. While we did have one good friend who gave us some rides, unfortunately, our timing didn't always line up. The heat from the past summer was rather intense all season. Thus, when our air conditioner died on July 11, we were in even worse trouble.

I am a thyroid cancer survivor with a weakened immune system. I have had recurrent cellulitis in my lower left leg since 1990, because of a car accident in 1981. I have been hospitalized 30 times, several of them in the ICU tend to my leg. Thus, the excessive heat in the house was unbearable for me and my wife. She has pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer and is diabetic. She needs to keep her insulin refrigerated. This past summer's heat didn't help with that. While we were very fortunate that a local company helped repair our air conditioner, we were still without a vehicle and still needed to walk for all our errands. Our home provides us a haven that is close to our family physician and other doctors who tend to our various medical needs. If we lose our home, we could very easily lose the very people who are working to keep us alive.

My wife rented a car for us to be able to take our daughter to and from her job at a local restaurant. However, that set us back further, as we were paying approximately $150 per week for rental fees. A few days after we returned the rental car, our electricity provider, Penelec, shut off our power. We owed $1,050 on that bill. Coincidentally, my wife and I had just received our Social Security disability payments for the month and paid the electric bill to have our power restored. In doing so, we did not have enough money left over to cover our mortgage.

Since September, we have encountered numerous other smaller setbacks that again have kept us from keeping up with our expenses. The house in which we live has become home. We will have been here for 4 years as of March 18. We would like to stay here for many years to come.

My wife and I are retired teachers. We have worked hard all our lives to reach the point that we could be homeowners and care for our family's needs. We have sacrificed over the years to be able to have a place of our own. While our children are grown, we would want to keep our home so that they can join us here to build many more beautiful memories. The nonprofit work that we do at our home has made a significant impact in our local community, and we want to continue giving back as much as we can.

Our home is the main office for PEP Radio, a nonprofit Internet radio station, which is a part of the Pennsylvania Equality Project, which is also housed here. Our organization has conducted the FreeShop at the Meadville Public Library since 2022. We are approaching our 7th time in which we collect donated clothing, blankets, nonperishable food, kitchen items, and anything else that fits on a table. The next day, we give everything away for free. Anyone from the public can come and get what they need. We would like to continue this tradition, help it grow, and spread it to other locations across Pennsylvania to help those in need. Unfortunately, now my family and I are the ones in need. Any donations you can make are greatly appreciated.

Update: Our home is now in foreclosure, and we have 3 weeks remaining to come up with solutions. A sheriff sale sign hangs on our front door. Anything we can do to slow the process and spare us losing our home, and the home of Pennsylvania Equality Project and PEP Radio is what we will do. Your generosity is greatly appreciated, even if it is just $1.