Aid Nate Phung in His Time of Need

Hi, my name is Nate Phung, and I am a high school music teacher, singer-songwriter, and punk rock/ska musician. You might know me from my alter ego, Nate Funk, or from the bands I'm involved in (Odd Robot, The Maxies, Poindexter, and Annalies Tang). In my primary career in music education, I invest a lot of time, effort, and my own resources into providing the best opportunities possible for my program at Cajon High School in San Bernardino, CA, which I rebuilt my first years teaching 9 years ago and am in a renewed rebuild process post-COVID.

My February 2025 was a disastrous and traumatic month for my personal life- my mother passed away after a 6 year battle with cancer, I additionally lost two great friends including one colleague going all the way back to college fraternity days, and my fiancée and best friend left me a month after I had moved them across the country to Michigan. I had to take unpaid days off- to help my now-ex move across country, an additional day beyond 4 days of bereavement leave to help my father around my family's home, and took one more day off after receiving word my ex went no-contact. I am out of sick leave at my job because I had to use 6 of my 10 allotted sick days starting the second week of the school year due to tonsillitis.

I additionally had a trip to Austin, Texas booked with my solo project's band that I had paid for to play an unofficial SXSW showcase. The flights were non-refundable, so we proceeded, and I incurred additional expenses to make sure that my bandmates were taken care of.

I am now sounding the alarm- expenses have piled up and caused me to max out my credit cards, and I've picked up additional gigs (including driving deliveries for Uber Eats and seeking bartending and performance gigs) and am in the process of liquidating some of my personal belongings, but I am in need of financial help due to pay cuts these next two paychecks.

Here are some personal expenses I incurred that I am in assistance of covering, for transparency's sake:

-$1500 in pay cuts due to unpaid days

-$900 for rent (I currently rent a room from a family friend)

-$460 for storage (formerly a shared storage unit between me and my fiancée- they stopped paying which incurred late fees. The unit is $220 a month, and I do not have time to go through the unit or move things until April)

-$158 for scores for my band and orchestra (paid out-of-pocket due to proximity to festival)

-$152 for Ubers for the band around the SXSW performance

-$150 for a deck storage box for my father, to help add patio storage to the family house

-$100 in plastic totes for organization for my father to help organize my mother's inventory

-$62 for airport parking for the SXSW performance

Additional moneys contributed to the campaign once my expenses are covered will be split evenly between paying down debts and contributing to my father. I am actively working to try to make an extra $600-1000 on Uber this month, along with seeking temporary employment during my spring break.