<div>My heart has been shattered by tragedy. I’m here to provide what aid I can, and I ask you to join me.

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div>At the end of May, my dear younger cousin, Finny, ended her life at the point of gun. She left behind a husband and two young children. Finny was the breadwinner for her family, leaving a stay-at-home dad and two kids suddenly without not only their much-loved mom and spouse, but without the means to fund their most basic needs. They need rent, food, utilities, car repair, phone and internet, and my beloved friends, they need counseling. I hope you’ll join me and lend the struggling survivors a tangible hand during a tremendously difficult time of grief and transition.

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div>I first met Finny at a large family re-union when I was in my late thirties and Finny was just a baby. She had just come into foster care for the second time with my dad’s youngest sister (my aunt) and her longtime closest friend. Finny was sporting the physical signs of SA as well as a broken arm. Her infant brother accompanied her, nursing a skull fracture. Finny and her brother would become the permanent foster children of my aunts. My relationship with Finny and her brother over the years was more ‘auntie’ than cousin due to the difference in our ages. I watched the two of them grow and become beautiful people. But they also struggled. Early childhood trauma is no joke. It rewires brains, programs bodies toward stress responses, affects attachment. 

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div>Time passed, the kids grew up, I grew older. Last summer, I was doing a reading of my recent chapbook in Minneapolis. Finny had just moved there from St. Louis with her husband and children to take a job as an EMT. She wanted to come to the reading, and I asked if we could meet another time as well. Her response was overwhelmingly enthusiastic, the first of several signs showing me she had a strong longing for belonging. We met for breakfast, and I anticipated a nice but sort of surface catch-up between cousins of different generations. 

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div>What I got instead was an amazing new friend. We talked for hours about writing (she’d been writing for years) and healing, about trauma and recovery, about telling the truth, about the longing for belonging. Finny was working on becoming a paramedic, something she would accomplish within the year. She came to my book reading the following night. She brought her entire family to visit us in our Portland home last summer/fall. As a cousin/auntie, I was smitten. I looked forward to many more meetings with Finny and her family. I looked forward to the essays, and perhaps even the book, she would write.

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div>Finny worked hard to manage her mental health challenges, to gain schooling, abandon the temptations of substance abuse, be a kind and loving parent to her two children. She faced a breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. She pursued her license as an EMT, then a Paramedic. In late February, Finny made a Facebook post in which she railed at the cuts being made to health and health research by the current regime. She ended, “I’m not hopeless, but I’m about there …”

</div>

<div>On May 27th, she fatally shot herself.

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div>In a more perfect world, the greater community would embrace this young family devastated by loss and surround them with well-funded social programs providing housing, food, counseling, and a period to rest, cry, heal, and recover from the shock, trauma, and loss they’ve just endured. Instead, Finny’s husband finds himself suddenly the single, unemployed father of two at a time and in a country rapidly reducing services to those who need them most. When he went to investigate social security, he found the office shuttered. The phone lines were overwhelmed. He’s been told it’s time for him to “buck up and be a man.” While the time has undeniably come for pulling himself up, I’d like to think we can at least make sure this young man has bootstraps to pull on.

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div>My friends, I realize that you don’t even know these young people. But we all know where we’re at. We know the playing field isn’t level. We know life is hard. Please join me and pitch in whatever you can to help with food, rent, utilities, car repairs, and my personal pie-in-the-sky for these three tender survivors: grief counseling.

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div>Suicide survival is a bear; I’ve been there. Statistics show that close-up survivors are three to four times more likely to attempt suicide than if they’d not lost a loved one to suicide. This wounded family is at risk. Money has been contributed by others for Finny’s cremation and memorial service and there are funds to pay the deposit on a new apartment, back in St. Louis. 

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div>Please join me in making love tangible to this young family by providing assistance for a transition period while young dad finds his feet. We can turn the emotions of love and compassion into housing, food, transportation, and counseling. 

</div>

<div>Let’s do our best to turn our love into their survival. 

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

Patricia Mandeville

Laura Stanfill

Andrine de la Rocha

Jeannie Botelho

Susan Robinson

Carol Fischbach

Tracey Yokas

Chris Mandeville

Christine Sprowl

Anonymous

Joanne Burkett

Hobie Bender

Jeff Rosenberg

stephen o'donnell

Rachel Harrington

Karen Lynch

CinFaye Militante

Leslie Green

Aid Finny's Family in Their Time of Need

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

currencyCode

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

writePath

Stream Notification

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

Native 11.3.0 and above

Influencer - Prod

US fundraisers and US users

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Aid Finny's Family in Their Time of Need

Todavía faltan $3,258. Ayúdanos a conseguir impulso.