Updated 02/20/26
Hi, my name is Raven. My mom and I are urgently needing to get into our home in Oregon with our two ESA cats Athena and Anubis and our Leo's. Prior to coming to Salem Oregon, we were fleeing wild fires and a Domestic situation but even prior to that we had lost our home and everything with it to a flood causing me to be introduced to Black Mold at a young age that now even the slightest mold affects me and my mom, we then at some point moved in with a woman who had her own horse rescue and the end result was us loosing everything again moving to Cali due to a family emergency then got stuck.
Both of us have tried our luck at finding an apartment and even went to a Unitarian church as we are both ordained ministers, hoping that some angel would be willing to help us out only for them to say they are praying for us and recommend Hope & Safety who turned us away for me not having kids when I thank my lucky stars that I don’t have kids. We came to Salem for a fresh start as I was and still am fleeting a domestic situation, and when we first got into Salem we had $4k saved up to be able to put down on an apartment and or rentable house. The first apartment we found we first applied for when we were living in our old apartment, so we waited and then visited when we arrived in Salem.
Part of the waiting process was coming from where we were before; due to my domestic situation we were going through an eviction process, we had all the proving documents, everything to fight it and win, but the owners of the building just wanted us out even before we got into court not giving us a chance. During court because the Judge saw how the manipulator showed up that she granted my mom and I sealant of the case, when we thought the case was sealed a record came back on the apartments end that there was an eviction. Which is understandable that they would be weary, but they had promised us that as long as we had a signed document stating that the case was in fact sealed there was going to be no issue renting to my mom and I. Before leaving to come to Salem we got that document and submitted it to them, waited, flew out to Salem, viewed the property, waited, and then they went back on their word and denied us the rental.
It took so long that the money we had in savings for our new place went to Motel 6, Storage, Flu medicine due to unhealthy living arrangements that most likely was potential of mold, and even lost after being scammed at Holiday Inn on Market Street by its employees and manager. We tried going to the red cross for help but my mom left in tears as they were so rude and discriminatory when their ads say they help and are willing to lend a helping hand. Now looking at prices for Apartments you are looking at first Months rent, deposit, and proof of 3-7 times of rent in the bank in order to move in. We even asked them “how do you expect anyone to have 3-7 times the rent in the bank in this economy?” and we are being told "That's not our problem, apply for another job or two.” on top of that being denied for a balance that still remains due to the domestic situation in which every apartment asks “was there an eviction?” and even when we explain that it was due to Domestic they assume there was an eviction due to the balance that would appear in the rental history which they tell us we are denied because there's a balance and explain that they have a no eviction policy despite of our situation. Another apartment we applied for we waited, called, emailed for 3 months to an apartment, spent money we didn't have to go there to find out they refused us to live there due to "bad credit" when my mom had a 700 credit score.
We tried asking our family that we thought we had for help and we were told to kick rocks and to never ask for help ever again. One of our family members is a nurse and when we told her we needed some money for pain medicine and they told me "I feel like I'm being taken advantage of..." and went on to say how much money they gave us, that they gave us their tax return which we didn’t know all they said was “you’re going to be okay now” which we didn’t ask for them to do that was their choice, blamed me for accidentally leaving $200 dollars back at our old place due to trauma from the domestic not to mention exhaustion for having to flee at 4am in the morning to catch a flight here and saying how sad she was.
Back where we were originally we were selling baked goods, bracelets, had an online store and had a few people support but the rest including our family "Oh that's sad" and "We hope everything works out" and "Sending thoughts and prayers" instead of helping. Now we are trying to sell bracelets, and cookies out of an air fryer but still having people paranoid asking "do you have pets? How are you keeping it sanitary?" which I get but when you are living in a situation and using what you got while explaining your situation is not a time nor place to care about that.
As of right now we are continuing to look at apartments and houses for rent despite every paycheck, donation, bonus, etc is going to the hotel making it impossible to buy clothes when we need them, work supplies, school supplies, save up for a home, a car, etc. as well as trying to get back what we lost in the first place. Even if we did have enough for an apartment, with how high the costs have become for rent we're better off paying a mortgage as even other friends and strangers who don’t even know my mom and I but heard what happened and are supporting us as we are supporting them. Now we are also looking at first time home buyer loans, grants, and programs as my mom has contacted Angel investors and the Redford family since she worked with them back in the day but no luck. Despite all of that we are grateful to all the angels that are helping us in the process.
We found a perfect place to call home, the first one was a property that was 2 acres for 600k in Salem, but the one we currently found that is in a different part of Oregon is $600k for 63 acres that has a house, a chicken coop, horse facilities, and a green house with a lot of potential for not only us but also in helping with the community by:
1. selling eggs, meat, milk (cow, goat, almond), and more
2. fostering and or adopting animals (horses, chickens, cats, dogs, etc) with no restrictions on a rental property policies
3. fostering kids down the road when financially stable
4. Doing an online store and bakery even creating a bakery cart on property
5. Helping Veterans
6. Ministerial services
7. Horse Boarding
8. Homesteading
9. much more!
All we wanted before coming to the hotel we are now was to be out of the Motel 6 which that dream came true although we hoped it would’ve been an apartment, rental house, or even a blessing to have a way to buy a home but it brought us to the hotel we are currently staying that at least provides us with breakfast, has us Tax exempted because we have stayed more than 30 days, and a Special Negotiated Rate for being long-term, a pool, fitness center, as well as promised safety. As motel 6 left us to wonder if we would have a room, having to be moved at midnight to a different room with suspicious creepy men lurking in the shadows causing us to be sleep deprived worried if someone would break into our room.
Both my mom and I have PTSD and have been hearing a lot of people tell us not to mention it because others have ruined it for the rest but we aren’t others we have a diagnosis and with all that we have been through we have earned the right to talk about it. My PTSD comes from Narcissistic abuse, Assaulted at my first job as well as being terminated for being assaulted, my Domestic Situation, and probably other things that I am unaware of. My mom’s comes from fleeing DV herself, Surviving horrifying situations, Narcissistic abuse, and childhood trauma.
After everything my mom and I have been through, we just want a place of our own where we aren't paying $99 day to day, aren’t paying $373 dollars a month for a storage unit, aren’t paying 2k a month for an apartment with restrictions, and aren't asking for help. At least we went from paying $500 for two large storage units in the beginning that we downsized to paying $373 trying to lower cost and do the responsible thing. Even though in the process of moving our storage due to not having anything to hire help my mom lost out on work and hurt her shoulder that she should go to the doctor for but here is so complicated in order to see one doctor for one issue not to mention we cannot afford for any of us to take time off work because we need the money.
We have tried to get help through OHP PacificSource, in which my mom had been denied 4-5 times for not having a job when she did, then for not having a good enough job, then not being sick enough when she couldn’t leave the bathroom due to her IBSD. PacificSource denied me 5-6 times for not having a job, having a poor job when I currently work for a high end hotel, then when their new little policy came out that PTSD isn’t good enough, and I can’t qualify for domestic because I don’t have kids nor am I pregnant.
We came here fleeing the wildfires, Fleeing a Domestic situation where even Center Of Hope and Safety didn't back me up, fix, nor help when I told them their housing committee refused me help because I don’t have children nor pregnant that I wasn't enough of a victim to qualify, costing us an apartment. It was discouraging especially after coming all the way here with a promise we'd have a place, services willing to help, but then coming here all to be tossed around, told everything was good, and then spit out on the cold hard floor ending up in a motel having to go back and forth when 28 days were up then ended up in a hotel that scammed us out of $373 dollars that we are fighting to get back with proof to end up in the hotel we are with people that actually care about us, having a job that cares about us and want to see us in our own place.
We used to run an 22 dog rescue in Washington state, Managed a Homeless Shelter, assisted a woman who had a horse rescue, and while we were at Motel 6 we had been living paycheck to paycheck, with breadcrumbs for food stamps, bounced from room to room in the motel, our rooms double booked 3-4 times, moving back and forth from storage to the motel in 100 degree weather where our ESA’s had no water, no food, no litter box just in their carriers in hot weather waiting for whenever we were deemed worth to have a room, moving to another motel after 28 days, then dealing with thugs due to our kind nature in helping women who are in distress, finding a home for a cat that was abandoned in one of their rooms for 3 days with no food, no water, nothing, not to mention not being able to do our jobs due to no internet, etc. all while our family abandons us, our other friends besides the ones who have helped us tell us they wish us luck while sipping Martinis with Celebrities, going to parties, sending thousands of dollars to people they don’t even know etc saying they don’t have a dollar to spare yet asking for free guidance, Reiki lessons, Extremely discounted baked goods, etc. hearing everyone call us scammers, beggars, and worse when we have helped so many people even when we didn’t have anything ourselves is heartbreaking and hurts us knowing everything we had done.
Granted we are still living paycheck to paycheck, instead of having food stamps we have been denied both conjoined and separately, but we are in a hotel that has guaranteed us a room, prioritizes us for being long term, provides us resources to help us out, and encouraging my mom to write her book, even earning points to free nights, constant free guaranteed wifi for our jobs, and more but we don’t want to be in a hotel forever and they even want us in our own place.
I am wanting to get my GED done to be able to go to College whether that be Chemeketa, SOU or somewhere closer to the property we are looking at. I am concerned about my ability to be able to qualify to get scholarships seeing that I got my food stamps cancelled and now told I don't qualify due to policy that I am concerned that it has jeopardized my chance for a future of going to a good college or even the university my native american grandmother who has passed of old age was a alumni was a part of. We have tried to post on social media about our situation but instead of support we get snarky remarks of "you're not homeless if you can afford to stay in a hotel, live out of your car like I have until I had money to get a place. Be self-sufficient!".
We don't have a car, even though a car would be nice but even if we did we'd most likely sell that. We don't have anything valuable, everything we own is second hand even our socks we wear and if we did have anything valuable we put it on facebook marketplace or to a pawn shop but the things we consider are valuable aren’t valuable to a pawnshop let alone those who would pay good money as it is sentimental value vs money valuable.
I am looking into getting a car, my mom was when we lived in Washington State but she had damage happen to the nerve that connects from one of her eyes to her brain causing it to have difficulties, she is still looking into second and their opinions now seeing how much has changed. But I am looking and excited to drive but I don’t mention it here as people used harmful remarks that I had the audacity to mention that I want to be able to drive. My only intention of wanting to be able to learn how to drive is so that I’m not relying on other people or asking others for money for ride share, but others choose to tell me to use my money for better things. Back where we were before moving here jobs were 10/50 likely to hire you without a car, asking "do you have reliable transportation" and being frowned on by saying "yes I can take the bus" then pushed away.
Now I have a job that pays well, treats their employees with respect, sends a fund to stock employee break room fridges when EBT benefits were stopped, and much more but even on the salary I am of being full time is not enough to get out of the hotel and into our own place and barely enough to set money aside to buy a home especially since my mom's job hasn't been paying her what she is worth and her job lessening with clients which brings the pressure to me half the time to pay for the hotel then run out of money to even make it into work having to call out losing more work lessening my paycheck causing more financial issues.
We are not looking for anyone to pay the full amount we have listed and we are not asking for hand outs either as we mentioned here; we are trying to get to a place to pay it forward and help the community but can’t do that if we don’t get help first. Even if you can help with anywhere between $5-$100 dollar donation, it would help us get closer to our goal. Your money would be going to our new place.
If we can get more than we have earmarked then your money would be going to would be:
1. A car
2. Moving truck
3. Movers
4. Homesteading supplies
5. Live stock (Chickens, Goats, Cows, Horses)
6. Inspection costs
7. Essentials
8. Funds to keep going while we set up
9. Finances to build cabins
10. Much more
As you can see we have already raised $1,350 since we moved here due to 8+ donors whom we thank and appreciate their contribution to the cause in helping us get where we are going. It has helped us with our temporary housing so we don't currently have the $1,350 due to trying to be responsible in keeping our heads above water by paying bills, pet expenses, and hotel "rent". We hope with what we get from this GoFundMe, the Items in Things to Get me for a care package, and others helping us with the hotel that from now on we can set aside all funds that come through here to get our place on top of grants and or loans others offer us as first time home buyers to be in our new home by 4/10/26 if not sooner.
I know times are hard and not everyone is comfortable with using GoFundMe so I have also put together a ThingsToGetMe list with some items for a care package to help us out with our fur babies and food for all of us.
These lists compile of things we have lost to be replaced, things we currently need, pet food and supplies. We will keep updating these lists when we no longer need these items or add things we need as we need them.
The links for the lists are:
Care Package List - https://www.thingstogetme.com/2163880a54cff
2 Cats 2 Leo's - https://www.thingstogetme.com/2163670af640c
Grocery Help - https://www.thingstogetme.com/1750996ab3882
I would use Amazon list and others but that lists an address but I need a platform that will keep my address confidential to keep me safe in the domestic situation I am currently in but rest assured anything that is sent is directly sent to us where we are and as they are sent and received we'd be happy to send pictures of us and the stuff that we get on Facebook to show that you sent it to us instead of worrying its going somewhere else.