My name is Jazz, and I’m a new mother to a beautiful, 7 month old little girl. I’m making this GoFundMe reaching out in hopes that there’s still help out there for my family.

At the beginning of 2025, after both experiencing a decade+ of homelessness, my fiancé and I arrived in Arizona after traveling from Florida with nothing but our old Pt Cruiser, a job offer for my fiancé and hope for a fresh start. We worked hard to get here for our daughter who was on the way and the dream of building something we never had, but the challenges we faced with no support system around us made it impossible to maintain our new lives.

Less than a month after moving into our apartment, our entire kitchen and living room ceiling collapsed, flooding the space with sewage water. My fiancé has now lost his job after months of missing work sporadically with little notice to manage the damage. He tried his best to contain the flooding by himself during all of this because I was over seven months pregnant and deemed high-risk by my OB. There was no way for me to help safely.

Despite constant calls and pleas, management ignored us. Even after seeing the damage, they told me the apartment wasn’t “uninhabitable.” They promised maintenance and never followed through. When someone finally came, it was always a new worker who just repeated what we already knew: the pipes needed to be replaced.

During all of this, my stress and anxiety continued to build. I woke up feeling off one morning, but with being high-risk I already had one of my biweekly ultrasound appointments scheduled for that same morning. I went in calmly but found out my baby’s heart rate was dangerously elevated, and that I had to have an emergency C-section immediately to save my daughter’s life. My doctors couldn’t find any medical cause. They believe it was the stress/living conditions. I was devastated, but I did what I had to do.

After the C-section, we had to stay in the hospital for a while. We asked them for help there. Their social worker could only tell us to call the same agency we’d made an appointment with already. We called anyway with the social worker there and they simply confirmed our appointment and that was that. We just enjoyed the time in the hospital with our tiny girl. 4lb 11oz.

Once I recovered, we returned to that same apartment. It still wasn’t fixed. We continued to call hotlines and agencies, but every appointment was months away. We even had to fight a wrongful eviction in court after the complex tried to push us out instead of repairing the damage. We “won,” but it changed nothing.

Our savings went toward replacing what we absolutely needed out of all that was destroyed, and feeding ourselves while the kitchen was unusable. It was expensive ready-made or shelf stable meals with no kitchen to prepare anything in throughout the majority of the year. It didn’t take long at all before we had nothing left, and then my fiancé lost his job.

In the end, the electrical panel in that apartment exploded about ten feet away from my daughter and I in the living room. That’s when we learned the entire apartment was a fire hazard and everything was wired to one circuit. It could have caught fire at any time, and definitely explained a lot of random electrical problems that were happening throughout the entire ordeal. The state finally stepped in, and forced the complex to relocate us. They put us in a motel for a few days before moving us into a new unit.

I’m grateful to be in this safe new space, but it doesn’t fix that the life we’ve worked so hard to build for our little girl has been completely destroyed within a matter of months…

We’re now pawning whatever we can just to keep the lights on and buy diapers. I’m applying to remote jobs while still dealing with complications from my surgery, and my fiancé has been interviewing at local businesses within walking distance. We’re both waiting to hear back on multiple applications.

We’re using every resource available to us. Calling every number, applying to every program, and doing everything in our power to keep things going. Rent assistance and utility programs are overwhelmed in the current climate. We’re out of options, and we need help crossing this gap.

So I’m asking. We need $1,300 to cover our rent and utilities this month so that our daughter can stay safely housed while we get back on our feet. We’ve reapplied for food stamps, but as of now we’re having to rely on food pantries and kind neighbors until they are reinstated. My fiancé continues to fight for his VA benefits as a Marine veteran while his case is now delayed due to the current government standstill. I’m trying to sell my car which is broken down after trying to do Uber Eats to make money and even our furniture now but it’s taking time.

My fiancé and I met a few years ago at a homeless shelter after spending most of our youth and young adulthoods unhoused. I survived trafficking as a teenager and was told I’d never have children after finally escaping my situation. When we found out I was pregnant, it was a huge surprise and we knew we had to do everything we could to give our girl everything we never had. We promised our daughter would never know homelessness.

We have worked so hard to keep our promise. I don’t want to have to say I failed her after we beat all odds to get here. I just need more time.

Thank you if you read all of this, and thank you, truly, for any help you can give. If you can’t donate, please share if you feel comfortable doing so.

I just want to keep my daughter safe while we rebuild again.

I will post updates here as our situation improves, because I believe it will no matter what. Going to that homeless shelter years ago was the most I’ve ever reached out for help through all I’ve been through, but I am swallowing my pride today and asking for help for my daughter. Going there, asking for help, it was the best decision I could have made and I’m hoping maybe this could be the same… Whatever version of God you believe in, please just pray for us above everything. I know everyone is feeling the heightened pressure of things right now, and I hope anyone who reads this is making it through. You’re worth fighting for.