Hi, I’m Leira, and I’m asking for help with an overwhelming crisis so I can finally start my life over.

I’m a software project manager who stepped away from my career to care for my two special-needs children, who couldn’t attend day care and needed stability at home. Almost three years ago, when my ex-spouse lost her nursing job, I took on full-time retail work to keep food on the table. Since then, I’ve been balancing full-time work, parenting, and a programming degree to rebuild a sustainable future for the boys and myself.

After more than a year of pressure to accept a divorce proposal that would have left me with effectively nothing, I finally secured legal counsel through a financial assistance program and filed for divorce. Since then, I’ve faced an onslaught of legal demands, including attempts to remove me from our shared home and to reduce my parental status. Defending myself while working, studying, and raising my boys under the same roof as my ex has taken a tremendous emotional and financial toll.

A court order now requires me to pay more than 100% of my monthly income to my ex for the duration of the proceedings. There’s no allowance for personal costs like insurance, transportation, or basic necessities. I have accrued thousands of dollars of credit card debt since the order was put in place. My attorney has challenged the order and the court assumptions that led to it, but no relief has been granted. With summer imminent, I'm also going to have to pay for child care to continue to work.

I graduated with my programming degree in December, with distinction. I’ve already secured a temporary IT job this spring that allowed me to work as close to full time as I can while fulfilling the court's demands; the expenses I've been ordered to pay increased in response. I'm enrolled in multiple job assistance programs. I'm interviewing successfully, as a top candidate. I'm enrolled in affordable housing assistance. I've successfully applied for financial waivers that will take effect the moment I move to a new address. I’m doing everything I can; I just need a bridge to get through this period until the court process concludes (or I can secure a job matching my skill set) and I can finally move forward.

Every dollar helps: toward the bills I’ve been ordered to pay, the funds I’ll need to secure housing, or at this point, simply keeping groceries on the table for my kids. I’m so close to stability... I just need a chance to get there.

If you’re able to offer anything, truly anything at all, it would mean the world to me and my boys. We're just trying to get our own place to live, and be our own family for the first time.

Thank you for reading, and thank you for caring.