I can't afford pride, my family needs help.
"Explain who you are, and why you are fundraising."
Who I am? I'm a self-destructive, emotionally-compromised near-30 year old millennial man who's medicated for depression.. but this isn't for me.
Bear with me..
My partner and I got the most amazing/terrifying surprise news a little under two years ago, we were expecting. Neither of us felt we had many options, other than to bring a child into the world. So, in August, Maia Suzi Donaldson was born and after few days off to acquaint myself with our perfect, if not accidental, bundle of joy, I was back to work. All was fine for a while, I had a new-found motivation for my new customer service/sales job, which meant bonuses and my partner was receiving maternity to make up for her, understandably, not working.
Fast forward to March, my partner has two jobs, I'm still selling phones and we're starting to settle into our cosy little no-frills life in our 1-bedroom flat, then the apocalypse hits and I'm immediately furloughed,
Furlough is a percentage of my base wage, meaning I lost 20% of my (£9.75p/h) wage, and 100% of my bonus. My partner's jobs both required less hours, and mine closed temporarily.
Seven months of that and we were in a huge financial hole by the time we got out of lockdown, but it was over, and we could get back to work.
Unfortunately though, she still never got her contracted hours from both jobs, and I was making no bonus, as there was basically no customers. This meant we couldn't get out of the debt we were put in, we were just surviving, in debt, biding our time, hoping that things would pick up.
They didn't, we're now in another lockdown, I've been furloughed for the foreseeable future, we're in mountains of debt to both companies and acquaintances, we have no means of paying it back, and no glimpse of hope in the future.
I've tried to do what I can and should as a father. I grew up in relative poverty and can't cope with the idea that it's looking like my little girl might too. £1,000 maybe won't fix that, but it'll at least us press reset, and skip our finances back to a year ago, before the world fell apart, and give us a fighting chance to make it the other end of this.
I never thought I'd be here, begging like this, but I'm terrified of what comes next if I can't sort this out. Not being able to provide the basics for my family has left me without a choice, I'd do anything for them, literally anything, so here I am.
I know this isn't short, and I know it's sadly a common story but it's because it's that common that I feel I at least need to give people a decent justification as to why I need to beg for money from generous strangers.
This is kind of a last-ditch attempt, I'm just out of options and I desperately need help, so if you can, please do. If you can't, I fully understand, there are people who need it more and I'm just one man but .. That's my story and to me, it feels like the end of the world.
Thank you for reading, stay safe,
Josh.
Who I am? I'm a self-destructive, emotionally-compromised near-30 year old millennial man who's medicated for depression.. but this isn't for me.
Bear with me..
My partner and I got the most amazing/terrifying surprise news a little under two years ago, we were expecting. Neither of us felt we had many options, other than to bring a child into the world. So, in August, Maia Suzi Donaldson was born and after few days off to acquaint myself with our perfect, if not accidental, bundle of joy, I was back to work. All was fine for a while, I had a new-found motivation for my new customer service/sales job, which meant bonuses and my partner was receiving maternity to make up for her, understandably, not working.
Fast forward to March, my partner has two jobs, I'm still selling phones and we're starting to settle into our cosy little no-frills life in our 1-bedroom flat, then the apocalypse hits and I'm immediately furloughed,
Furlough is a percentage of my base wage, meaning I lost 20% of my (£9.75p/h) wage, and 100% of my bonus. My partner's jobs both required less hours, and mine closed temporarily.
Seven months of that and we were in a huge financial hole by the time we got out of lockdown, but it was over, and we could get back to work.
Unfortunately though, she still never got her contracted hours from both jobs, and I was making no bonus, as there was basically no customers. This meant we couldn't get out of the debt we were put in, we were just surviving, in debt, biding our time, hoping that things would pick up.
They didn't, we're now in another lockdown, I've been furloughed for the foreseeable future, we're in mountains of debt to both companies and acquaintances, we have no means of paying it back, and no glimpse of hope in the future.
I've tried to do what I can and should as a father. I grew up in relative poverty and can't cope with the idea that it's looking like my little girl might too. £1,000 maybe won't fix that, but it'll at least us press reset, and skip our finances back to a year ago, before the world fell apart, and give us a fighting chance to make it the other end of this.
I never thought I'd be here, begging like this, but I'm terrified of what comes next if I can't sort this out. Not being able to provide the basics for my family has left me without a choice, I'd do anything for them, literally anything, so here I am.
I know this isn't short, and I know it's sadly a common story but it's because it's that common that I feel I at least need to give people a decent justification as to why I need to beg for money from generous strangers.
This is kind of a last-ditch attempt, I'm just out of options and I desperately need help, so if you can, please do. If you can't, I fully understand, there are people who need it more and I'm just one man but .. That's my story and to me, it feels like the end of the world.
Thank you for reading, stay safe,
Josh.
Organizer
Josh Donaldson
Organizer
Scotland