This is Emma.
She is my neighbor and has become a dear friend of mine. She is 25 yrs old,  about the same age as my daughter, and has the most adorable 3-year-old girl. Until Dec 1st she lived in an apartment across the courtyard from me, on the first floor, with a nice patio for her daughter to play on. 



I feel like she is a younger copy of me
Like me, she’s raising her daughter alone, working hard to provide a good home and prosperous life for her, even though being alone can be a struggle economically.

Like me, she has no or very few role models regarding parenting and tries to learn as she goes.

She’s dedicating her career to help people, currently working with disabled people, and I’ve been working with children my whole life, mostly deaf children and children with special needs. 

She is fighting PTSD, due to a really bad childhood, and I am struggling with bipolar disorder. 

Despite all this, Emma's managed to build a great life for herself and her daughter.


The terror begins
A couple of months ago a neighbor called her and said there was a man outside her window staring in. She got a bit nervous and called me to see if I saw anything. I went over and walked around the house, but didn’t find anything. The next day, leaving for daycare and work, someone had written SCARED? on the wall, next to her front door. 

This was the starting point for weeks of terror
She started to have the blinds down and the curtains were drawn 24/7. It started to feel like living in a box, but she really didn’t want anyone staring at her. 

Then she started to get notes in the maildrop in the door. Not especially threatening at first, but utterly disturbing. They always appeared when she was alone, never when she had guests. At one point she burned herself cooking, 10 minutes later she got a note asking if it hurt. This was when she understood someone actually was monitoring her, spying on her, probably one of her neighbors. We discovered if you stand outside, you can actually hear through the maildrop, what’s going on inside, what she’s talking about on the phone, and so on. 


They fled their home
Of course, she didn’t feel safe in her home, being alone with a toddler. Fortunately enough, she could move to friends for a while, to get some much-needed rest and feel safe. 

When she got back home, everything was fine for a couple of days, she even started to open the blinds and curtains during the day, and we sincerely hoped that was it. It wasn’t. 

It started right back
One evening we were in her kitchen chatting away, when she walked by the door to the living room and screamed, scaring the life out of me. She saw a man standing in the living room window, with his hand on the windowpane, staring at us. Really close and really creepy.
I ran out, but he was already gone, just a handprint on the window showing someone had been there.
This time I convinced her to call the police. She told them everything that happened, from the beginning, and sent pictures of all the notes she’d gotten. They can’t do much, since we couldn’t ID him or even give a good description of him, but at least it is on record if needed. (She did get help getting a personal alarm though.)

It got worse
After this everything escalated. The notes got more threatening and came more often. Emma started to get more and more stressed and began to have physical manifestations, such as allergy flare-ups, headaches, nausea, dizziness, bad skin, rashes, insomnia, and nightmares. Her PTSD flared up, with anxiety, panic attacks, and an overwhelming feeling of danger. She didn’t feel safe in her home and she didn’t want her daughter to see her fear and anxiety, to have that feeling of danger in her life. 


Something desperately needed to change!
Once again she moved to friends, to get away from the terror. Another friend offered to take care of Bianca for a while, so she didn’t have to see Emma’s panic attacks and anxiety. During this time Emma was able to get some sleep, see a doctor, and get medication for her anxiety and PTSD. She also managed to get a new apartment further down in our neighborhood, this time higher up in the building. The apartment looks the same, and Bianca will have the same playground and daycare, and won’t have to lose her friends.  

The landlord didn't help out
The problem is, the BIG problem is, even though it is the same neighborhood and the same housing company, the same size, and rent, the landlord’s demanding the usual notice of leave period of three months. The new apartment was empty, Emma was in dire need to move and she even got the help of a child service worker to speak with them, explaining the importance of this family to move quickly.
She did get the permission to move in immediately BUT are forced to pay rent on BOTH apartments for the full three months if she can’t find a new tenant for her old apartment. (Since the pandemic is in full force, people are less inclined to move around. Both due to the risks, but also the uncertainty of the economics, jobs, etc.)


Emma chose safety
Emma chose to move into the new apartment, for her daughter's sake. To be able to bring her home, to feel safe in her home again, and keep all the things that make a 3-year-old safe and sound - her friends, a social network, a community of people helping her out. It takes a village to raise a child!

Emma needs help
This, however, means Emma is short by almost $3000. She is doing what she can by saving money, selling their old clothes, she’s been baking and selling cakes and cookies during Christmas, but it won’t be enough. 

I feel so bad for her, but I don’t have the money to help her. I do help with her daughter, taking her out on picnics, babysitting, playing, crafting, listening, and whatever is needed, but I can’t help her with the rent. 

We can do it together
That’s why I want to help her with this campaign. Maybe if we do this together, we could help her. If we all put in a couple of dollars it would go a long way!

And even if you feel you can’t right now, I know Christmas is expensive for all of us, you can help out by sharing this campaign. Ask your friends to share it. If enough people see it, we might be able to help. 


Thank you all!