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. Two years ago, when my spouse lost her nursing job, I took on full-time retail work to keep food on the table. Since then, I’ve been balancing physically demanding labor, parenting, and a programming degree to rebuild a sustainable future for us.

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 recent court order now requires me to pay more than 100% of my monthly income toward household expenses for the duration of the proceedings. There’s no allowance for personal costs like insurance, transportation, or basic necessities. My attorney is challenging the order, but that process takes time I don’t have.

I graduate with my programming degree in just a few weeks. I’ve already recovered from surgery this fall and returned to work as quickly as possible. I'm enrolled in multiple job assistance programs. I'm interviewing. I'm enrolled in affordable housing assistance. I’m doing everything I can; I just need a bridge to get through this period until the court process concludes 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 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.

Thank you for reading, and thank you for caring.