Ashara needs our help

Beloved community member and mother Debra Bynum passed away in January after a stressful few months. Her only daughter, Ashara, was her primary caregiver. Ashara and Debra shared an apartment together on Columbia Street in Hudson, where the pipes burst on Christmas Eve. They then had to move their entire life across town to temporary housing on 7th Street.

Now that Debra has passed, Ashara is left alone sorting through their life together. She has to go through all of her mom's possessions (and a lot of her own) as soon as possible, as they are currently stored in a warehouse on 7th Street -- which is slated for demolition in late February. In addition, there are two other storage units -- one in Hudson and one in Albany -- which store the rest of Debra's life's possessions.

Ashara has had to miss work on and off in order to deal with the December move, to take care of her mom as her condition worsened, and to arrange her funeral and grieve. She will need to move again around the end of February, hopefully back to her original apartment on Columbia Street which will have been renovated after the flood. To make matters worse, Ashara is a musician and lost some of her musical equipment in the flood as well.

We are creating this gofundme to support Ashara through this incredibly difficult time of total transition: to help with her moves, with the recuperation of lost wages, to re-purchase equipment that was lost, to pay for the two storage units, to hire a professional home organizer who can help sift through her and Debra's belongings in a timely and organized fashion, and to cover other out-of-pocket expenses she and her mother incurred since Christmas Eve.

And most importantly, the money raised here through our community will allow Ashara the time and space to properly grieve her mother's passing, so she can operate for a few months without a heavy financial burden. We are hoping to secure some funding for Ashara as soon as possible.