Hi everyone! Here are a few pictures of my mangled car and the bad luck I've had, but below the pictures you can read my story to find out more information about why I decided to start this fundraiser

Hi! For starters... this is going to be long. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Leesa Land and I have been working in the pet industry for about 17+ years. Whether I was in vet tech school (in 2009) or working in a kennel or pet supply store, also at a few animal hospitals as a vet tech, the most recent being in 2021. But before that, I worked at a couple of grooming salons. One I was at for almost 7 years. After leaving there, i worked at another salon for a short time, and went back to being a vet tech, I realized I missed the grooming. So I was working my main job as a vet tech and I did house call nail trimming and grooming on the side (which means I would travel to your house and all services were conducted in the comfort of the pet's own home). In the middle of me having both of these jobs, my car got totaled and I was carless for a while, but nonetheless, I still worked my butt off for both jobs, taking the bus, walking, biking, and getting rides when I could. When it became too much and I realized the house call grooming and nail trim job paid more, I decided to take that up full-time. So me and my partner of 10 years worked together to build a very loyal and large clientelle. I was able to get another vehicle but not even after two years, the transmission went out last November. So I was carless again, but STILL tried to bus and get rides when I could to take care of my clients and their pets. Just a few months ago, I was able to finally get another vehicle (an old used car) I for have one of my clients, a retired mechanic, take a look at the car with me, but he is injured from the waist down and didn't inspect the entire undercarriage of the car. if he was able to get on his hands and knees and look underneath the car he would have seen the entire underside was completely rusted out. so unfortunately, with everything else on the car looking good, I purchased it. Two days after having it, I took it to get an oil change and that's when I found out how badly rusted out the car was. He told me the front lower left control arm would be replacing soon and the shocks and struts were also going as well. The cost would have been $2100, more than I paid for the car. So I just got the oil change, and a few days later as I was driving, my REAR driver's side lower control arm was so rusted it snapped off the frame. There is no way to fix that because the frame was so rusted even if I got a new control arm there would be no way to attach it to the frame. I informed the seller or the vehicle, and he took it to his shop and pretty much MacGyvered it back on and didn't charge me. It held with no problems but I still wanted to get the front lower control arm fixed so I paid an additional $220 for the control arm, wheel bearing, and a sway bar link. Everything seemed fine for a while until the check engine light came on shortly after that. O'Reilly's told me it was a problem with the emissions. Fast forward a month. I was the unlucky victim of (probably) a random attack of teenage punks who decided to throw a brick through my rear windshield and back driver's side window. The brick completely shattered all the glass and I was completely without a rear windshield and back driver's side window. I covered the windows with clear plastic until I could get it fixed but never got the chance because on Easter Sunday my entire car's rear suspension went out, both control arms and the suspension. The only reason the car was standing was because it was resting on the tires . So with the cost of replacing the windows plus suspension, obviously it wouldn't have been worth it. So now I am once again carless. I struggled before being carless but made it work. But now it is different because my boyfriend and grooming partner had emergency surgery on his foot a couple of months ago (that turned into two surgeries) and he was in the hospital for an entire month and got released to home health care and has a wound vac machine on his foot 24/7 for at least another 4 to 6 weeks, then may possibly need a skin graft surgery. So he cannot walk without a special shoe and a walker (and carrying the machine with him everywhere). So until he heals, I am on my own for some appointments (he has a nurse come 3 days a week to change the wound vac supplies, someone comes once a week to draw his blood. A wound care specialist also sees him as well as his PCP). And not having a car when you're a MOBILE house call groomer is very difficult, especially since I don't have his help all the time.

I know what you are thinking: "Why should I donate? Just find another job..." I have applied for 16 jobs in the last two weeks and haven't heard back from any of them. They see my last 7 jobs were pet/animal related and assume I have no retail experience.

"Okay, so apply for jobs that are hiring for your specialty." I am trying, but once again, without transportation, I am limited to trying to apply for jobs along bus routes.

"Why should I help? Can't your family?" My family and boyfriend's family are completely tapped out from all his medical bills and expenses. And I did receive family help for cost and repairs on past vehicles.. They are willing to help when they can. I just need a little help myself and hopefully, they can help with anything else.

And yes, you don't have to help, but whether you are a random person, a friend, or one of my past, previous, or current clients, if I have helped you or your animals at all, ANY donation of any kind is greatly appreciated.

"It's not my fault you didn't have the car you bought properly inspected. Take it up with that guy." Yes, that would be correct. I got ripped off and learned my lesson. The seller is aware of everything that happened with the car and has offered me disounts on cheap vehicles that have just as bad of problems as the last one, So basically I would probably be spending more to fix it and be in the same situation as the last car. He said, "Well buying a car for under 2000 dollars, they aren't going to be perfect. Most of them will have issues," which I completely understand. I bought a cheap car and wasn't expecting it to be problem-free but I thought it would last longer than barely two months! But frankly, I don't want to trust anything he would try to sell/discount me.

I unfortunately don't have much money left since I put it all into the car I just lost and only had for two months I did manage to get some money set aside, so I'm not looking for an entire handout for the full cost of a used car, I just need a little more help to get something cheap yet reliable enough to service my clients and their animals whom I love dearly.

I would just like to get transportation going again so I can do what I love most: service my wonderful and loyal clientelle and continue to take care of their animals. I have been doing this going on 3 and a half years at people's houses and built a great clientelle whom some have grown close to and I love each of their animals as if they were my own so it would be hard to just walk away from them. All of this happening is affecting my mental health as well as my boyfriend's mom who is trying her absolute best to help me get around where I need to go, but she has a job as well and can't always help. I HATE to have to ask for help, but if I have helped you or your pets and you'd like me to continue to do so, or if you don't know me but would like to help me get back on my feet to service and take care of these pets, anything you can give is greatly appreciated. And if you cant give, please share this link! And if you have read this far, I appreciate your time. Even if you cannot donate, sharing this link would also be greatly appreciated! Thank you to all who have come across this! ❤️ Leesa