Today Ashlyn's car was totaled.
She was driving to work and another driver rammed into her car, causing it to flip upside down. The car was essentially destroyed.
Thankfully, she is mostly fine. She has some glass scratches and her elbow is badly hurt, but no one was permanently injured.
But... Ashlyn's KIA Soul is dead. Anyone who knows Ashlyn knows that her Soul was her soul. She's both figuratively and literally lived out of that car at different points in her life. While helping her do her taxes I calculated all of her deductible work mileage. In 2014, just from driving around to different gigs, Ashlyn drove almost 7,000 miles. Just for gigs. She's criss crossed all over the Baltimore/DC region as a teaching artist, actor, stage manager, standard patient, airbrush tattoo artist, etc.
Anyone who has worked as a full time gigger understands that life... working at one job from 9am to 2pm, another from 2:30 to 4pm, eating dinner in the car while traveling in rush hour traffic to another rehearsal.
It's hard enough to make it work on a good day, but when you get t boned and your car gets destroyed... it can feel impossible.
So I'm setting up this gofundme to try to raise money to help Ashlyn put a downpayment on a car. It's really the least I can do. She's driven me around so many times and is the most hospitable driver I know. Anyone who has ever done a gig or a show with her knows that she'd give anyone who needed one a ride home. And now she needs some help getting back on her feet after a rough accident.
I know that it will mean the world to her, and even $1 will help.
All money will be used towards getting a car for Ashlyn Thompson. For any information, or if you have any questions feel free to contact me. Ashlyn just got out of the hospital so she probably shouldn't have to think about this right now.
Zach Roberts