Please help to SAVE our lives! So close to paying rent and being fully stable, yet not close enough and I cannot give up! I will work, I will create art or writing for you. I will do anything a jack of all trades can possibly do to repay you!!

every last red cent will go towards my children’s needs and security as I prepare for surgery and navigate my unit through calmer seas. Your charity and generosity serve as the lighthouse in my port. And remind me to never stray or falter on the path I’ve been so blessed to be chosen to transcend. Here is our story….

My name is Ben Shoemaker, I’m a hard working father of three (2 born children and my stepson) aged 3, 9 and 25, who has been trying his best to support my family in Orange County CA. solely for the past two years since my children’s mother and partner has been out of work. On a warehouse worker & wave technicians humble annual pay. It’s incredibly hard to do this and breaks me down to the point that depression has me in spring health therapy to have to reach out in such a way. I feel shame and guilt and that I’m failing my loved ones. Leaving me sleepless at night and bedridden during the waking hours of the day.

However, dire circumstances call for drastic measures. While pursuing growth opportunities and trying to find passive sources of income and/or “side hustles” has proven to be a time consuming and highly competitive endeavor when in physical pain and trying to make the adequate time for my children that they deserve .

I have succumbed to credit debt and an injury that requires surgery in the first metatarsal on my left foot. My falling short in researching what the state required for benefits initially due to falsely presuming that a doctors note from my primary would suffice for benefits repayment has crippled my finances and there is not enough work to bounce back as quickly as I hoped from the weeks of work lost with now knee/hip and left lumbar sciatic pain from the impact of walking awkwardly on a dislocated bone. I am forced to put off the surgery needed on my foot while not prescribed to anything for pain and becoming unable to justify OTC pain medication to try and continue to produce. I am aiming to have the operation no later than January of next year and have to have the surgery. with the proper SCI documentation on time and my tax return to supplement the income lost from the weeks of recovery (6-8 weeks)

My partner has just now finally found a job in a field she is passionate about, teaching pre-k for a locally- based and church affiliated school in the Newport Mesa area. And it is nothing less than fateful that she struggled to find work in other fields before an opportunity she’s passionate about that includes child care and preschool for our daughter.

I am making it my mission statement for the next year to not squander wages and minimize all unnecessary spending so that nothing like this can happen. And with her returning to work and the ability to renew our savings accounts. I have no doubt that this would occur twice.

the situation being what it is, with myself in pain and missing weeks of work and my income simply not being enough with OC rent, car payment, misc bills whike providing my children what they need and deserve for a quality childhood is a week to week struggle. The wages lost due to lack of experience and overwhelming inflation on my income alone has left us in a scary situation that I feel solely responsible for as the provider in our home.

im sharing our story reluctantly under the advice of good friends, in good faith and with the intention on paying this forward wholeheartedly. And it is very difficult to write this, let alone share it to social media.

I cannot let my children go without, be forced to relocate and the costs of moving paired with rent for a smaller place far exceeding our current rate. I’m trying to sell what possessions I can and freelance write, etc. to help us out.

Any aid received would be met with the utmost gratitude and a promise that I will use everything in my “tool belt” to repay through good deeds and donations to others in need, when financially recovery has been found.

Aa The 1st of the month is here and she has not had a paycheck since wrongful termination in December of 2023, I am terrified of what can happen by next month. And forced to travel all avenues of potential funding including GoFundMe.

While stress and writing this has left me feeling awful. I have to try to get the assistance that the state will not provide due to lack of sufficient resources In California

Including in the photos of my precious family is an image of the dislocated 1st metatarsal in my left foot requiring surgery and now causing knee and other pains. Below is a description of the Metatarsal and its importance in physical function.

There are not words to describe and express the thanks I would have for those willing to read our story, let alone those able to help in any way.