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Help Dennis & His Family After Misfortune

My name is Dennis Petersen, and I am here to respectfully ask for your assistance.

One year ago I was in a serious car accident. While driving home on the 101 freeway in Los Angeles, I was struck by a speeding, drunken driver. The force of the impact was great enough that my Ford Escape flipped and rolled over onto its side.

My neck and shoulder were badly injured, requiring approximately 50 osteopathic treatments, as well as several epidural shots into my neck in order to heal the sustained injuries. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control, I had lost my medical insurance mere days before the incident.

This was just the icing on the cake of a very bad few years.

In 2014 I lost my job of 18 years when the company for which I worked closed with one hour’s notice. Initially I found some success as a freelance agent, but jobs became scarce. When I applied to jobs outside my field of thirty years I discovered that companies were hesitant to hire me for fear I would not last as an employee. Eventually I became a rideshare driver between fewer and shorter freelance jobs, barely sustaining my three children and myself.

By the time of the accident, we were barely getting by. I had lost my car (and thus employment) and by the time I received the modest compensation for the car from my auto insurance, and equally modest damages from the drunk driver's insurance, I was so financially strapped that the monies went straight to daily living expenses. I was never able to replace the car.

I eventually returned to driving rideshare by renting a car from Lyft. It seemed to work initially, but soon Lyft lowered wages 25% and raised the price of the rental car roughly the same percentage. It now takes me three days of work to pay off the car every week before I can make any money.  This has become unsustainable over time.

Through all of this I have tried to see the light at the end of the tunnel. In 2019 I started a small business (www.halefilms.com) scanning and restoring 8mm and Super 8 movies, both amateur and professional. I am very optimistic about its potential, but it takes a lot of time to grow a new company and that is in short supply at the moment. I need a little breathing room.

I am asking for your generosity in order to extricate myself from this difficult dilemma. I need to get rid of the $250 a week rental car and purchase a used car of my own that is in good enough shape to qualify for ridesharing. In addition, I would like to raise two months of living expenses for a cushion to get back on track.

Thank you again for taking the time to donate to my cause.
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Donations 

  • Bill Jackson
    • $25 
    • 4 yrs
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Organizer

Dennis Petersen
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA

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