First, I’d like to say that I know how valuable your time is and how overwhelming the world can be. Thank you for taking a moment out of your day. It means a lot that you would click and see us as fellow humans in a time of need, especially with how impersonal the internet can be. I appreciate the kindness and hope it comes back to you!

My name is Liz Hall, and today is my 42nd birthday. I currently live in Newton, Iowa, with my husband of 20 years. Denny and I are the parents of three brilliant, academically gifted, kind, creative, good-natured, resilient children…who also have special needs. They are aged 19, 15, and 7.

My family is in the midst of some enormous challenges. I am writing to humbly ask for assistance to help with our short-term basic needs. These needs include emergency housing, meeting our dietary restrictions due to food intolerances, and costs for transportation, including registration fees and insurance, so that we can drive to doctor and specialist appointments for multiple members. These needs are not currently being well met due to the gaping holes in the “social safety net” in our state.

However, the bottom completely dropped from under us when we asked our landlord for kitchen repairs that he'd long neglected...to replace broken and moldy cabinets, drawers, and sinking floor, and repair wall damage from a toilet leaking in the room above.

Instead of giving us the typical response, something to the tune of, “The rent is cheap, don’t like it? Move out," this time, he declined to renew our month-to-month lease and sent us a 30-day Notice to Quit.

We suspect that choice may be related to the fact that about a month prior, to help us with heating costs, an agency that handles energy grants for low-income families weatherized the house we rent on our behalf. According to contractors here for weeks, work worth an estimated $40,000 was done, including a new furnace, helping seal for radon, and insulation was blown around the entire house.

I don't know for sure his motivation. However, I can imagine raising the cost of rent for the next tenants on a newly renovated house might be a very appealing prospect. Especially when you can ignore the intent of the contract you signed with the government by blatantly exploiting a loophole around month-to-month leases...but I'm not a mind reader, and we weren't given a reason.

We weren't able to meet that unexpected 30-day deadline. Rather than give us more time when I pleaded, we were served with a 3-day Eviction Notice and a court date. With the help of some fantastic people at Iowa Legal Aide, we secured a temporary extension until the 15th of November.

As a family, we are struggling with what is likely severe genetic problems, potentially worsened by COVID-19 infection in May 2022. Denny and I have mourned the loss of three of our parents in the last nine years. We also miss multiple grandparents and far too many aunts, uncles, and cousins…in many cases, far too early, and often from similar underlying medical causes. (Which include cancer, renal failure, and complications of short telomeres syndrome, which can cause what is essentially premature aging of the body’s organs.)

All five members of our household have various neuro-developmental issues, including ADHD, autism, sensory-processing disorder, and multiple physical and mental health diagnoses. We are grateful to have a slew of medical specialists at various hospitals and clinics working with us to find the root cause and help treat our immediate and extended family’s symptoms. (Including the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City and Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines.)

For our little family tree branch, those symptoms have progressed over the last year and become so debilitating that we are essentially homebound.

Due to our family’s high-risk health status, we utilized our local public district’s remote learning option during the 20-21 school year pandemic. We did our best to mask and sanitize when that option ended the 21-22 year, and schools dropped mask requirements, but we still ended up ill and fighting repeated infection most of the year, and the kids did most of their learning from home.

Our oldest graduated from the local public high school in May 2022. We are proud he made Honor Roll, despite the challenges he faced with our situation! He has an autism spectrum disorder and requires our financial, material, and emotional support. He is a relatively private person. I won’t share as much about him out of respect for that.

Our middle child is currently in 10th grade, is gender non-binary (agender, to be specific), and uses they/them pronouns. They are also asexual (no sexual attraction to any gender) and lesbian (emotionally attracted to women). They are doing their best to learn at home right now due to severe physical health problems. They live with hypermobility and Positional Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), which can cause extreme differences in heart rate and blood pressure when changing positions and can lead to dizziness, fainting, and panic attacks due to activation of the body's "red alert" system.

They had been so excited to start in-person learning this year at our local alternative high school, which has been welcoming and supportive! However, their health worsened, and they have been using an online platform through the public school for the last month or more. We recently received the schedule for a week’s worth of testing and appointments in January 2023 at the Mayo Clinics in Minnesota. They have also been referred to a 6-week pain rehabilitation clinic in Wisconsin, pending our financial assistance approval.

Our youngest is in 2nd grade. However, he has had very little time spent actually in the classroom. Last year, 1st grade, he was enrolled as attending on-site school. However, he missed over 70% of the year due to repeated illness. This year, he has missed nearly the whole year. In fact, the district sent a uniformed police officer to our home yesterday morning for a well-child check. We have communicated with the school regarding his ongoing ill-health, but we have not had a formal meeting with the principal due to several health emergencies and the issue with landlord.

We are thankful that the school staff and officers look out for our children and understand why the visit happened. I mention it because it added to a stressful situation that has been unceasing since my husband was fired without cause from his long-time job as a Regional Manager in October of 2021.

This job-loss came as a complete blindside, as he had consistent positive performance reviews and no disciplinary actions. We had no choice except believe it was because he had to take unexpected time off work to care for our children when I was hospitalized for ten days in August 2021. That incident was an emergency that required that I be transported 85 miles by helicopter to the University of Iowa’s intensive care unit.

He did qualify for Unemployment Insurance and re-enrolled in community college to finish his Associate's degree. He is on track to graduate at the end of next semester. When Unemployment was no longer an option, he took a part-time job to supplement student aid. Our family contracted COVID-19 in May 2022, and Denny was terminated by mail while still under a doctor’s care. The reason was not calling in every day, even though he hadn’t been on the schedule. There were no Unemployment funds available for us.

Personally, I have been living with debilitating physical, developmental, and mental health conditions for most of my life. However, I have recently been having psychiatric and neurologic symptoms, including extreme mood changes and periods of being unable to speak or walk unassisted. At my last appointment, my primary doctor noted slurring, slight drooping on one side of my face, hand tremor, and difficulty walking.

I have had a CT and MRI of my brain, with another MRI, this one with contrast, being scheduled. I am awaiting more specialist visits and results from extensive testing done recently by a dermatologist. I have been unable to tolerate sunlight or even many indoor lights (LED, CFL) without having a severe allergic-like reaction. I haven’t left the house for anything except doctor’s appointments in months, and we live with all the curtains closed at all times and in the dim light of incandescent bulbs. A rare genetic disorder is the suspected cause.

You can probably imagine from the length of my “brief” synopsis that meeting our basic needs is exhausting…and we’ve been doing this with no income and almost no support system. It’s mostly just the five of us holding on together and trying to weather the storms of life. I joke we are like a family of otters that hold hands while sleeping so that no one floats away…just us trying to navigate the currents together and survive in this world that wasn’t designed with people like us in mind.

I do want to be explicit that we are grateful to those that have been able to assist us, both materially and emotionally! Thank you, we couldn’t have made it this far without you!

That said, we desperately need a hand getting back to our feet. Any help is sincerely appreciated. We would be grateful for not only monetary donations but with referrals, leads on housing, ideas, or just words of encouragement. It has been a long and lonely journey for some time now, and we need some help making it through this part…

As the Sara Bareilles and John Legend song, “A safe Place to Land,” so hauntingly puts it:

"The ocean is wild and over your head

And the boat beneath you is sinking

Don't need room for your bags; hope is all that you have

So say the Lord's Prayer twice, hold your babies tight

Surely someone will reach out a hand

And show you a safe place to land…"

And this is the beautiful answering chorus:

"Be the hand of a hopeful stranger

Little scared, but you’re strong enough

Be the light in the dark of this danger

‘Til the sun comes up

Be the hand of a hopeful stranger

Little scared but you’re strong enough

Be the light in the dark of this danger

‘Til the sun comes up"

(Full song can be heard at: https://youtu.be/5OJMOTe56tE )

Please reach out if you can; it’s always less scary in the dark if you have a hand to hold…

Thank you,

Liz Hall

Edit: I have been asked to share my PayPal and Venmo info, both are: @lizhall2002