Hi, my name is Lee, my wife Rachel and I have four kids and a bonus college aged kiddo living with us.

I was laid off in June, and Rachel and I have been working hard to find jobs, and we both have some promising leads. However, unemployment is running out very soon, and we've depleted our savings. We don't have the ability to get rent paid for January, or our bills paid as things stand right now.

I'm a software developer, and most of the work in my field is in Silicon Valley, and despite our strong desire to move somewhere more affordable, that just hasn't panned out so far. Our modest 4 bedroom house in San Jose is $4200 a month. Unemployment doesn't even come close to that.

Our college aged kids are all three in school and working the hours they can to contribute, but their wages/hours don't leave us with much to work with.

This year we're not even going to try to have Christmas this year, everyone contributed is going to rent first, then PG&E, phones, keeping the cars on the road.

We're doing our best to find a program that might help us pay rent, but in our county right now, 1 in 6 people rely on the food bank, and 1 in 4 people are going to bed hungry according to the food bank we utilize. We're doing our best and trying really hard to secure solid work.

Please help if you have anything to spare, or give this a share. Thank you kindly, and Happy Holidays!