hey gang!!!! My name is Renton and i'm a transman in Missouri that lives w my partner Greg (that's us and our dog above!). If you know us then you probably know how much of a shitshow the last year has been, but if not here's a recap: one of our best friends// my boss was murdered last year and catapulted me into a position where I was suddenly making 20k less a year than previous(on top of the trauma said incident caused), and Greg and I have been struggling HARD to make it month to month. I've applied for over 300 jobs this year and have been actively trying to find better work, but being trans and not able to change my name/gender marker makes it a little bit treacherous. Asking for help is hard and I've been debating making a gofundme for almost a year now, but I fear it's time that it's just a necessity. Thank you for reading this and thank you for being here <3 Between 6 friends dying, losing my job, and all of the anti-trans laws-- staying alive has been getting really really hard. Since my income suddenly changed it's been a constant game of catch-up that we don't seem to be able to win, and my priority right now is just finding a way to get caught up and be able to stay housed and get our hot water back on. On top of all the day-to-day chaos, Greg's mental health has also been suffering a LOT and we desperately need to get him into an inpatient program so he can get back on anti-depressents that work and hopefully dig out of the pit-- but that's a lot of cost we don't have, and neither of us have insurance. All of my HRT costs have been out of pocket and through grey-markets and I've been going to weekly intensive trauma therapy to try and get my CPTSD under control more, and then our gas being shut off on top of everything has really put nail after nail in the coffin. I've spent hours applying for grants, trying to get loans, trying to donate plasma/sell things/do odd jobs, but unfortunately it's a lot easier to be stuck in poverty than to get out of it. My unemployment claim has also been held up for the last month almost, which has been another unexpected issue to throw in the fire. The only upside right now is that we finally got SNAP approval, but I haven't had any luck with LIHEAP or federal assistance since it got funds cut.

Overall the goal is to be able to get our utilities paid up in full so we don't have a potential eviction looming over our heads and then get the car title emergency loan I had to take out paid off. We have to be able to cover Greg being out of work for a week to go to inpatient and rent is upcoming, and we just desperately need some community assistance right now. I know everyone is going through it and nothing at all is easy in this hellscape, but if you're still reading this: thank you so fucking much. Even just sharing is hugely beneficial and truly every interaction counts.

If you're able to donate and you want to feel less like you're just tossing money at us-- I also am open to help clean, paint, sell art, or do a custom commission of you/your pets/your family, or even offer photo services. We just really really need some help to get out of this pit.