Bree's Journey: From Fleeing DV and Homelessness to Hope !

Welcome to our fundraiser.

Thank you so much for stopping, learning our story, and supporting us.

Hello everyone, I’m Bree, a mother to Jace (10), Ava (8), Aubree (2).

Our full story is below for those who want to know more. The short version is that since we were approved for low income housing in Nov 2024, we have finally stabilized as a family.

(For anyone wondering if Public Assistance really helps families break out of poverty, we are a living example that it does.)

Unfortunately, our car, the Toyota Corolla we lived as a family in for 2 years on the streets of Oakland, died last week. It was towed to Pick & Pull on Saturday Feb 22 after Dave, the wonderful mechanic at the Chevron Station on Park Blvd in Glenview confirmed it could not be fixed.

Without a car, I cannot get to work or get the children to school. It's too far to walk from where we live, paying for Uber is not financially possible, and there is no public transit. I don't have any money to buy a car on my own.

However, I have had a woman following our story offer to MATCH ANY DONATIONS I receive on a GoFundMe towards an older car, and the mechanic is going to verify it is reliable before we buy.

Having a working used vehicle gets my children to school and childcare daily and they won’t miss any school. It also gets me to work, and helps me earn side income doing housecleaning, DoorDash and Instacart.

If anyone reading this has a good reliable running vehicle to donate, or sell me affordably, we would consider that before a new used vehicle, but I know the chances of this are very slim. The key is reliability. I don't have the money to repair a broken car unfortunately.

Our History---How did we get here?

I escaped my family at a young age. My Mom is a drug addict, my family has struggled for generations with poverty. I was fortunate that teachers and other families played a role in guiding me, making sure I stayed in school and received my high school diploma.

Unfortunately, at the age of 14 I was groomed by an older man and became pregnant by him at 14 and 15. As a teen mom I did my best but we were on our own quickly and ended up homeless. After struggling for a few years, I allowed myself to get into a relationship thinking it would help us stabilize, but I was wrong. I endured 4 years of violent abuse before having the courage to leave when I was 8 months pregnant. By that point his violence threatened to spread to my children and being homeless again was better than my children being hurt.

We lived in a Toyota Corolla for 2 years while I took any job I could including housecleaning. During this time, I posted on Facebook and Nextdoor just searching for food or gas to keep the heat running in the car at night.

The community blessed us tremendously with occasional nights in hotels, people donated clean clothing, shoes, warm food, and groceries for us, helped pay for car repairs. I want to thank anyone who has supported us before.

I know many people couldn’t believe our story was true and began to give up on me, but a few kept faith and never stopped praying for a better life for our family. Some encouraged me to learn how to make better choices, some held me up when I was about to quit and end it all, some gave me hugs when I forgot what hugs felt like, some wiped my tears when no one seemed to notice I was crying and suffering.

Finally, in late November 2024 we were accepted for a 2-bedroom low income apartment in Oakland. It has been the stabilizing block that has helped us finally come to a place where we are safe and I can focus on working so we never become homeless again.getting There are no words to describe my intense gratitude.  

I have since secured childcare for my youngest so I can work. Jace and Ava are now enrolled in a good school. I have a Counselor helping me interview for jobs and I look like I will be employed by March. I am also still doing housecleaning, DoorDash and Instacart and will continue to do so for the next few years in every spare moment I have to earn extra income.

In the future it's clear I must get more education, but for the good of my family now I have to choose employment first so I can pull us out of this hole I dug us into.

This fundraiser is the next step toward stability for my family. When my car first broke down last week I wanted to give up. It felt overwhelming to come so far and then lose our car.

However we have endured a lot, giving up now is the "old me" talking. This is why I am doing a GoFundMe with the hope that people will see our incredible progress against all odds and realize how close we are to living a normal life like other families.

My hope is this is the last time I ever need to ask anyone for money.

I need a reliable used car, something I can depend on for work and the kids, if I don’t have dependable transportation everything else is extremely difficult.

If you possibly have a good running vehicle to donate, or sell affordably, we would consider that before a new used vehicle however the chances of finding a good donated car are very slim.

For immediate donations please consider sending to our Venmo @BreeHeartsJace

PayPal @BreeMJohnson

Or

Cashapp @Shestillsparkles

For direct contact, or any questions please contact me at [email redacted]

Again thank you to our wonderful community ! I am looking forward to being able to post a photo of us in front of a running reliable car, everyone in clean clothes, with a warm safe home very soon.

In gratitude to our BIGGEST DONOR I am offering 4 hrs of the best housecleaning I can give.

KITCHEN: Sparkling

DINING ROOM: Clean and refreshed

LIVING ROOM: Organized and dust free

BEDROOM: Clean and beds made with fresh linens you want to sleep in

BATHROOMS: Disinfected and clean--you might want to eat off the floor

LAUNDRY: Wash & Dry, Folded & Hung up, Everything put away

In other words, whatever cleaning you need, I will happily do.

Again thank you so much for reading, sharing and supporting. We truly appreciate your love and support.

From here the future road is depending on me.

-Bree, Jace, Ava and Aubree.