Give Ryan and His Kids the Strength to Keep Fighting

Hi. I never thought I’d be here, writing something like this. My name is Ryan Burch. I’m a father of two, and until last September, I worked in cybersecurity. I've led teams, solved complex problems, and built so many things I am proud of. But for 8 months, I’ve been unemployed and doing everything I can to find work.

In the last eight months, I’ve applied to more than 800 positions. I’ve rewritten my resume countless times, taken online courses, written books, leaned on every contact I have, and shown up to every interview with hope. But still, no offers have come through. No income. No way forward.

Now I’m falling behind in every direction. Rent is months overdue. There are eviction notices pinned to my door. My phone and internet are days away from being cut off again. The power is getting cut off in the next 7 days. I’ve sold everything of value just so I can keep applying for jobs. I have nothing left. No money, nothing of value to sell (aside from my laptop, which I need to keep applying for jobs and updating my resume, and hopefully continue to write books.

It's not easy for me to ask for help. I'm not a prideful person, Im just private. And removing the curtain and allowing people to see me struggle, putting myself in front of friends and family and strangers alike pleading for anything they can offer just so I can keep going is a hard concept for me to accept. But I am here. Because I don't have any other options left. It's this, or homelessness. It's me asking for help, of finding myself with nothing left.

And the hardest part of all is this: I can’t even see my children.

I can’t afford to feed them when they’re here. I can’t drive to see them because my car registration is expired, my license is suspended (because I can't pay child support), and I no longer have insurance. I’ve hit a wall financially, emotionally, and physically. I feel like I’m watching my life unravel while doing everything I can to hold the pieces together.

I never thought I’d ask for help like this. But here I am. I’m asking for support to help cover rent, basic utilities, phone and internet service, food for my kids, legal fees to help get my child support suspended and my license reinstated, and to help abate my eviction, and anything else that will help me fix what’s broken so I can get to my babies again. I’m trying to build a bridge out of this, and right now I just need a little help getting to the other side.

If you’re able to give, even a little, it would bring some air back into this suffocating moment for me. If you can share this, that would mean the world. And if all you can offer are words of encouragement, I will carry them with me on the hardest days. Because a large burden in all this is feeling like you are carrying it all on your own.

Thank you for reading my story. Thank you for caring. And thank you for helping me keep going.

With deep gratitude,

Ryan