Our neighbor Elysia needs help making a change in her life after surviving homelessness, loss, and isolation with the help of community. Please give if you can, and share this with others. Thank you.

~Eileen

Help me get to my next home

My name is Elysia, and for the last six years I have been trying to find my way out of a series of hardships that left me homeless and living in my vehicle with my two dogs.

I grew up in Seattle, attended Nathan Hale High School, and graduated from the University of Washington. In 2019, I moved back to Seattle from Texas, believing I was beginning a new chapter with someone I loved who loved me. Instead, I found myself in an unhealthy relationship, and then the pandemic arrived. Over the years that followed, one setback seemed to lead to another.

While living in survivor mode experiencing constant stress and instability, my health deteriorated and I was diagnosed with Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (GPA) (formerly known as Wegener's Disease), a rare autoimmune disease that required twelve reconstructive surgeries on my nose and forehead. Because I had to keep taking time off for surgery and recovery, maintaining employment became impossible. Compounding things, my vehicle became unreliable. Little by little, the stability I had worked so hard to regain just disappeared.

Eventually, I lost nearly everything except my two dogs and a Toyota Highlander, my work vehicle that had become my home. Last summer, I finally decided to leave Seattle and start over somewhere new.

I made it nine miles.

The Highlander died July 4th, 2025, ending my ability to continue working as a delivery driver. Then began my nomadic life as a Seattle vehicle resident parking in one spot for a while then getting towed to another spot. The dogs and I overwintered in a neighborhood near Green Lake.

What happened next restored my faith in humanity. Several neighbors in North Seattle chose compassion over judgment and reached out to me. Individuals engaged in conversation and dropped off bags of supplies. Some folks helped me make social services connections and worked with me as I navigated the legal system. Some collaborated with me to find a wonderful new home for one of my sweet dogs, and most amazing and unexpected, some neighbors obtained and converted a Toyota Sienna into a camper van for me. This community gave me something I had not had in a very long time: hope and a way to move forward.

Now I have the opportunity to leave Washington and make my way to Texas to be closer to my mother who has never stopped loving and supporting me emotionally but is retired and living on a fixed income and simply is not able to provide the financial help she wishes she could. My father died a few years ago. My aim is to live near my mom and be a supportive presence in her life and to leave behind this chapter of trauma, physical hardship, indigency, and isolation.

I am not asking for help to deal with all of the issues in my life. I am asking for help reaching the starting point of my path toward reinvention, good health, and security.

My goal is to raise $2,000–$5,000 for this purpose: fuel and start-up expenses that will allow me to travel from Washington to Texas and get a place to live, where I can begin rebuilding my life near family while developing community and a healthy support system. I am looking forward to returning to work as a delivery driver and having the headspace to get back to writing my first book, a novel based on my experiences with the human condition and how we ascend to the best version of ourselves despite challenges.

The kindness I have received from my North Seattle (Tangletown and beyond) community has reminded me that people are more than the worst thing that has happened to them. Thanks to the support that the community has given me, I finally have a chance to move forward.

If you are able to contribute something, thank you. If you are unable to contribute financially, sharing this fundraiser for me will be so appreciated.

With gratitude,

Elysia

P.S. The photos are of Mom, Dad, and tiny Elysia in the 1980's and my huggable emotional support travel companion a few days ago.