Help my bestie stay off the street & hit the road

Think about what it would be like to live in a car. Maybe that road trip where you got tired, so you pulled over to the rest stop, popped your seat back, and took a nap. You woke up, back not happy with you, neck aching, so you stretched, popped your neck and went on your way.

But imagine doing that every single day. Now imagine doing that when your back is bad and always hurts. Or when your entire body is working against you every day.

Or let’s take it a step further and imagine you don’t even have a car. Imagine you have to sleep on a friend’s couch—or floor—but you can’t pay them rent, you can’t help with the gas or water you use showering, you can’t help pay for the food you eat. Imagine how long they’d put up with you, and how long you’d feel comfortable doing that.

Then imagine that the person who would normally let you sleep on their couch has recently lost their own home to a fire and they are living with relatives. So they can’t even help you—not with somewhere to stay or money, anyway.

So where does that leave you? Maybe a park bench? Maybe a shelter–possibly without being able to be near your partner or spouse, as some shelters don’t even allow couples to be together!

And as if this weren't already bad enough, imagine the heartbreak of having to rehome your beloved furbaby, a source of comfort and happiness, because you have no other way to keep them safe.

This is what my best friend is facing.

But we can help. They need to be able to pay off the car their Dad (his father) started to buy for them. He was trying to take care of them with transportation before he died—which happened very unexpectedly, and much sooner than he thought it would. Unfortunately, he kinda screwed that up because he was a bit of a... penny-pincher (I’m being nice) and refused to spend the few cents per month on life insurance for the loan. Now they’re facing losing their only reliable transportation.

If that’s not bad enough, they are also losing their home, the one they shared with their Dad. He’d paid for it, in part thanks to thousands of dollars in lost Grace R. Duncan royalties her former publisher stole from her (and the related lost sales from having to pull and republish all her books). In less than two months, they have to be out. If they don’t get help, they’ll literally be on the street—especially if they can’t get help with the car, either.

All of this is compounded by the fact that my best friend and her spouse are both disabled. She has fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and a bad thyroid. He has four herniated discs in his back. He shouldn’t be lifting more than a paper clip, but he does to help her. Because she can’t either. They don’t receive disability benefits, despite the fact that they should qualify. Not that said benefits would be enough to make it through their current circumstances.

But! They have a plan, if they can get the help they need. They have a way to not only stay off the street, but to also make a home they’ll never have to give up again. And you can help.

What they need:

To make the move to Baltimore (near me, so we can help each other, and so they have a chance at some semblance of reasonable healthcare): $3,400-$3,800

A start to their long-term plan: buying a bus: $4,000

And the money to begin the conversion to a home (materials, tool rentals, etc): $6,000

All told, they are facing a need of some $15,000 (see update 2).

We’re all really excited about converting the bus to a home (which we’ll be doing with lots of help and guidance). This plan is years in the making, but their timetable has been suddenly accelerated. Their dad tried to make sure they’d have the money for this, but the death benefit he had assigned to them turned out to be much less than they expected. Estate taxes and back taxes have eaten most of it.

That’s why we need your help.

We know that cash can be hard to come by, but if folks–including the awesome community of authors and readers that Grace R. Duncan has–share as much as they can, we’ll have a good chance of meeting our goal! Thanks to Katy's help with my own Go Fund Me, I have a great start at rebuilding my life after losing almost everything to fire (I wouldn’t have been able to manage one without her help). With your help, I can hopefully help her in the same way.

Please share this fundraiser far and wide (what do people even use these days? Facebook, Twitter, tumblr, Mastodon, carrier pigeon, however you communicate with your philanthropist friends, etcetera). We all greatly appreciate every donation and share you can give. Please help my best friend stay off the streets, and get on the road!