On September 3, 2023, my life changed in an instant.

The person I love — the father of my children and the backbone of our family — became the victim of

gun violence. That day turned everything we had built upside down. While he began a long and painful

road to recovery that continues to this day, I had to figure out in real time how to hold our family together.

I was not prepared. No one could be.

What made it even harder was that we were already in a transitional living situation when it happened. In

one moment, I went from navigating an already difficult season to being essentially on my own — with

two children, no stable housing, and no roadmap for what came next.

My daughter went to stay with her grandmother so she could have stability. That decision broke my

heart, but it was the most loving thing I could do for her. I was not going to let the chaos of our

circumstances become hers.

From September to December 2023, my son and I lived in hotels. Every Friday we had to check out.

Every Sunday we could check back in. That meant one day every week — every single week — I had to

find somewhere for us to go because I could not afford the weekend rates. I want you to sit with that for a

moment. A mother and her young child with nowhere to go for one day a week, every week, for months.

That was our life.

I kept going. I had no other option. My children needed me.

In December 2023, I found a room in a women& and family shelter where we stayed through March

2024. I was grateful. But shelter life is not easy. I had a private room, but shared everything else. I had to

provide my own food and figure out transportation without a vehicle — all while continuing to be the main

support system for my partner in his recovery and for both of my children.

The day before my daughter birthday, we moved into our own apartment. I bought a vehicle. For the

first time in what felt like forever, I believed things were turning around.

But life kept coming.

My son requires extra care and support that his daycare was not equipped to provide. Without the right

resources for him, I could not keep a consistent work schedule. I lost my job — not because I did not

work hard, not because I did not show up — but because I had no support system and no one to help me

properly care for my son.

This was the second time I lost a job for the same reason. The first time was right after my partner was

shot, because he had been my primary support system for our children. In the same moment I was

watching the love of my life fight for his life — I received a termination notice because I had no child care.

No grace. No understanding. Just gone.

I am not sharing this to ask for sympathy. I am sharing it because I want you to understand what I have

been navigating alone.

The only support system that truly exists for me and my children lives in another state. My children

deserve to be close to people who love them. They deserve a stable school environment, the right

resources, and the chance to just be kids instead of feeling the weight of everything we have been

through. I deserve a community around me. We all do.

Relocating is not a dream for us. It is a necessity.

My lease is ending and I will not sign another one here. There is nothing left in our current location that

can give us what we need to move forward. Our support system, our resources, our chance at a more

balanced and stable life — it is all somewhere else. And I am going to get us there.

I have never wanted to ask for help. I have given this everything I have. I have stretched myself in ways I

did not know were possible. But I am asking now — because my children are my reason for getting up

every single day, and they deserve a mother who is supported enough to truly show up for them.

Every dollar raised will go directly toward getting us there — transportation, moving expenses, housing,

and anything needed to make this relocation a reality. Every share puts us in front of someone who might

help. Every comment, every moment of engagement, every kind word — it all matters more than I can

express.

If you have read this far, thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. You did not have to, and

you did. That means everything to me and to my children.

We are not asking for forever. We are asking for a bridge to somewhere better.

With love and gratitude, Noel