Hi, My name is Natasha and I am fundraising for my father (on the left in the photo) who just lost his best friend/significant other (on the right in the photo), who was also his employer, to suicide. Here are the expenses I am looking to help raise funds for, and I have written out his story below.

- Rent ($1200/mo x 6) $7200

- Utilities ($250/mo x 6) $1500

- Gas ($200/mo x 6) $1200

- Medical/Dental Expenses ($250/mo x 6) $1250

- Pet Expenses ($150 adoption fee + $50/month food x 6) $450

- Miscellaneous $1500

- Therapy Co-Pay ($40/week x 52) $2080

Total Expenses (excluding hazmat and carpet replacement): $15180

Go Fund Me Fee (based on $15600): $452.40

TOTAL (excluding hazmat and carpet replacement): $15600

On the evening of Tuesday, March 14th, I got a call from my father, Jesse, letting me know the horrible news that my bonus mom, Amy, had taken her own life in their home that afternoon. Amy had been ill for a long time.. just over 21 years and my dad has always been by her side, through thick and thin of her illness, and he is absolutely heartbroken by this. We are very thankful that the funeral services and cremation are being covered by her parents. Seeing my father this distraught and upset, along with grieving myself, has been the hardest thing I have ever had to do, so, naturally, I am doing what I can to help him. We are all doing our best to be thankful that she is no longer suffering.

Due to him being her caregiver, her passing also means he no longer has a job or source of income. They were not married, so he unfortunately cannot receive her social security death benefits, and him being 63 years old, will be penalized if he starts his early - he is not supposed to start receiving them until he is 66 and 10 months. Even if he receives them early, it is a minimal amount and will not cover basic needs of living. He would love to wait until he is 70 years old so that he can receive the maximum amount.

He is thankfully being more optimistic than I would have thought, and is open to working. As we look for well fitting jobs, he has applied for unemployment to help him get by and he has also applied for food stamps, which I assume he will need to receive even after he starts working again, and is why it is not included in the above requested expenses. We are hoping he will make enough at a new job, even though it will likely be minimum wage, to cover rent and all monthly expenses. Sadly, section 8 closed a few weeks ago, and will likely not open back up for a very long time, possibly up to a few years. We are luckily he is already living at one of the most affordable housing in town.

The biggest expense not included in this is the hazmat cleanup and carpet replacement from this incident occurring inside their apartment. His landlord is doing whatever she can to convince the owners of the building to cover the hazmat cleanup and carpet replacement, but we have not heard yet. Carpet replacement can range from $700-1000 for the room, and the hazmat clean up is an ungodly $10,000+ price, which will put him deep in debt. We have-not gotten the answers about if this can hopefully be covered by the owners, but if it is not I will be adding the cost into the requested funding.

A few months ago, he also had to put down his cat due to health problems and lost his mother to covid just over a year ago. It has been a very rough year him and I would like to do anything I can to ease this pain and transition. He has spoken about wanting to get a cat so I have added those costs as well. It would be great for him to have some company, especially when I need to go back to work. I am currently staying with him until he gets back on his feet and hoping that can come soon with any help we can get with these donations. Any thoughts and prayers (and shares) are also greatly appreciated and don’t go unnoticed.

Thank you in advance.