Hello, friends.

I’m in a bit of a desperate situation and asking for help. I know budgets are tight for everyone, so if you can’t help, I one hundred percent understand considering my situation.

I’ll make it brief here and then give the long version below.

If you prefer to skip the GoFundMe fee:

CashApp: $GummyArtist

Venmo: @April-Hoff-Art

If you prefer to buy art: https://aprilhoff.square.site/

If you prefer to sponsor summer camp kids, just make a note when you donate.

If you prefer labor, I’m good with most tech, have office skills, and can build WordPress sites. I can also help with social media posts if you’re local for photos or you provide them electronically. I’m good with kids and could be a sitter and bring art supplies. I could feed your pets or goats and water your plants / garden while you’re gone. I’m accustomed to being an independent contractor, so I don’t need to be hired if that’s a plus and a small business needs intermittent help.

I donate a lot of time to a local arts non-profit and giving kids free art classes when they can’t afford them, I’ve also helped local artists earn thousands of dollars with art shows I’ve produced and co-produced. I canceled Netflix, Hulu, and Prime a long time ago, and I don’t get Starbucks or the equivalent. I don’t drink soda or alcohol, and I don’t have vices that require income, and rarely do I eat out. I stay home most days I don’t have to work to save gas. I would be homeless already if it weren’t for the generous grace of my landlord turned extended family. I do try, and I work hard when my various disabilities allow. I’m applying for jobs, offering discounts on classes, and doing paid surveys when they pop up for me.

The biggest barriers are that I have chronic migraines and long Covid, and I live in a rural area so no public transportation for work or the multiple specialists I see. Over the past 30 days, 17 of them were migraine days, though I only missed one day of work because I work through them when I can safely drive. I’m also in my 50s, and in this job market it will be tough to find other employment.

I have very few expenses and have been scraping by on less than $400 per month this year and now it’s plummeted to $230 with no guarantee to continue into July. My car insurance is just shy of $100 per month and my phone plan is $60/mo. Another expense is paying off the Care Credit for the kitty I had to ultimately euthanize in December, that’s $130/month for the next couple of years. It’s not easy paying for a dead pet and reliving that unexpected loss every month. Fortunately, yet another animal was re-homed to Wendy’s farm so I have a different cat to show some love. I believe in and practice using things until they are worn out, the now-dead phone is from 2018 and I wear clothes until they’re threadbare and still wear them with holes in them. My TV is from 2009 and I installed a new power supply when it went out a few years ago instead of buying a new television. I do have to buy shoes, though, as my job is mostly on my feet and I’m due for a new pair since the only ones I have with good traction now are zero drop and cause more fatigue on concrete. I also buy my own glasses since insurance doesn’t cover them. Thanks to friends I drive a hybrid so my gas consumption is very low. I tell you all this to say, I will be diligent with anything you give.

For now I’ve transferred my number to a cheap phone with cracked glass and I’m locked out of my Google account until the morning of 6/18 since I couldn’t receive the 2fa text on a phone with only Google messages without signing into Google. What a recursive nightmare, so please call my 208# or call/text the Artingales number that I can still get to on the computer. I also don’t have Signal installed since the Play store also requires Google login. smh

As for Artingales, I’ve had to resuscitate it three years in a row with Square loans and help from friends. This school year, the enrollment at district after-school buildings didn’t even cover the incorporating fees or required 2mil insurance policy. I would take another offered Square loan, but the income isn’t there to pay it off this time so I will dissolve the business and teach as a sole-proprietor at the gallery instead of being an LLC, hoping for some enrollment until I can find viable employment. Wish me luck, please!

Thank you for reading, I hope your life is going better than this sounds. Love to all.