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Hello we're the Taylors, we're a growing family consisting of myself John, my fiance Tessa, and our two small kids Jesiah (2) and Zion (7 months). We just want to start off by saying if you decided to click on this and share to get the message out we're grateful for that because that's how it all starts!
We've come down on many hardships over the years since having our first born Jesiah back in 2020, we never anticipated for the expenses and experiences that would come our way. We moved in a brand new apartment by the luck and grace of everything falling through when we needed it too. We moved all our belongings in and my fiances water broke soon after I left for work. We had a home, somewhere all of us could start our lives, or so we thought. What we didn't expect was for how hard it all would be. COVID-19 took over a whole year of happy memories we could have been having. Jesiah was constantly getting COVID-19 and sharing it with us, I missed many days of work. We missed family and holidays. PMFLA and FMLA wouldn't cover any of the missed time, and my job only offered 96 hours of pay. I used every bit of sick time I could which wasn't much since I'd only been working at my current job for two years at that point.
3 months into living in Downtown Seattle in an amazing apartment, I got into a car accident that totalled my vehicle and ran me into $4,000+ in medical bills with no medical insurance. My nose was broken, and I was told I'm lucky to be here even though I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time trying to rush to work through City Traffic...
We replaced the vehicle with something more family friendly it was a reliable car that got me where I needed to be in the time I had it. Once the prices in gas skyrocketed so high we had to sacrifice any extracurricular activities with Jesiah. Our "reliable family car" ended up being not so reliable the transmission went out and my brother was able to help with the parts. We ended up just trading the vehile with my father in laws friend in the end to cut costs. It helped our income for a while but once our lease was coming to a close we had to find somewhere else to live.
I mentioned before it was by grace we got into the apartment to start with, we have no credit, and constantly told you need credit to build credit. We got assistance from my job to help with our additional security deposit. We ended up moving into a very low-income neighborhood thinking it would help us save for something better. I started losing hours at work during the peak of COVID-19 and was switching between many of my jobs locations just to be able to make rent and feed my family. We got assistance a few times from the places that were helping our City. We've also been so grateful to the few family members and friends that have provided food, diapers, baby wipes, and other essentials we may have needed along the way including my fiances great aunt who helped with two months of rent and replacing Jesiah's car seat after the accident.
Recently we had another baby 7 months ago and have been struggling so hard since then. My job has again helped us, and paid the allotment to help us afford to keep a roof over our heads, which has now unfortunately made it no longer an option. My fiance has been a stay at home mom for almost three years because if she were to work it would only cover childcare for the boys. The state won't offer us childcare assistance because we're low-income but not low-income enough. We've tried doordashing and doing UberEATS before my youngest was born. It barely met our needs especially with gas being so expensive. Most rental and utility assistance has become non-existent since July 1st, 2023 when they ended the assistance programs for the COVID-19 impact. Which didn't seem fair considering it's still so high here in Washington, even with all the vaccinations and boosters we're still at risk. My fiance Tessa nearly lost her life a year ago when an abscess got to close to her brain while having COVID-19, and her immune system has been compromised since her surgery.
We've scarificed everything from attending events, special occasions, putting off our wedding, birthdays, and holidays. Our food stamps after the pandemic ended went down to $175 a month for 3 people and everytime my check has gone even a dollar over without reporting they cut us off for a month. We have W.I.C but our youngest is having weight gain issues, and has a prescription for formula which eats up the rest of our old benefits. I've missed so much work since my youngest turned 4 months old, he's had appointment after appointment to help with everything. I've tried working as many hours as I can max, picking up shifts, barely sleeping to work back to back shifts. I'm still not able to make enough to provide past the essentials like food, baby and toddler items, and transportation to and from work.
Recently, I was in a hit and run accident that left my insurance making me replace Jesiah's car seat, and Zion's base, in total costing just under $200 which I didn't have to begin with. My rent has accumulated to $4,402 and my utilities are just over $1,000. I'm only asking for what we need to help us not get evicted the day before Thanksgiving. We have no family or friends to seek shelter to as they're all at capacity, shelters only have women and children and me being the main provider we need to stick together. Please help keep us in our apartment. This will help get us back on track, and I appreciate anyone able to help out.
Sharing, talking about it with your friends and family, and donating even $5 can help us get to our goal. Thank you for your time, and all your generosity.