Help Ginger & Lamar Find Stability and Hope ❤️

Hello everyone!

My name is Ginger Key, and I’ve been married to my husband, Lamar Key, for 36 wonderful years. We’ve been residents of Mobile, Alabama, for our entire lives. I’m writing to you today because we’re going through a tough time. A tough time that we thought would be a few years that’s turned into over a decade. It’s a bit embarrassing to admit, but we really need your help.

Just to give everyone some context, I think it would be beneficial to share our story. It all started back in 2006. I had a simple surgery, and unfortunately, I became very sick. I managed to survive a blood clot in my lung, which was a miracle in itself. It took a lot out of me, but with the unwavering support of our friends and family, I made a full recovery.

The following year, my husband, Lamar, had a massive stroke. We thought he mostly had made a full recovery but it turns out that we were very wrong. The stroke has affected him in ways that we couldn’t have ever imagined.

Before the stroke, we had a thriving auto repair business called Advanced Auto Repair in Irvington, Alabama. It was our livelihood, and my husband worked tirelessly to keep the shop running smoothly, making customers happy, and keeping our prices very reasonable. Unfortunately, the shop started to slow way down. We blamed the oil spill in the Gulf and then Hurricane Katrina for our struggles. After much thought, we decided to file chapter 13 bankruptcy with a repayment plan, but it was incredibly difficult. Despite our best efforts, we still couldn’t make ends meet. The payments became too much for us, and we eventually had to file chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2008.

This was traumatic to not only us but our children, who were teenagers at the time. We had to give back our business, the property we owned with it, our custom built home, our vehicles, our camper, basically anything we had financed. We thought this would finally put us on the right path to getting out of debt and moving forward, but sadly, it didn’t work out that way. We seemed to keep getting further and further behind. We ended up living in rental houses, and it was incredibly hard to save a single dime. My husband’s health also started to decline even more and we were barely surviving.

At this point, I knew I needed to find other employment to help us get through this tough time. Meanwhile, our kids grew up and started their own families. Lamar and I were still struggling in every way. No matter how much we tried, we were still barely making ends meet! Lamar took another full-time job, and I worked full-time at Infirmary Health. Lamar seemed to struggle more and more with his health. In 2022, he started a new job at the Mitsubishi dealership in Mobile. Things looked promising, but we just kept spinning our wheels. Never getting our feet on the ground. This continued until 2024. Lamar had job after job, and he kept getting laid off each job. Nobody really could give us a reason for letting him go and we couldn’t understand either.

One day, in August 2024, he was laid off work again. After that, he started having more health issues, including heart stents, etc., and just seemed so very tired all the time. Then, one afternoon in February 2025, Lamar got really sick. He had a headache, was dizzy, vomiting, and couldn’t hold on to things. He dropped a whole pitcher of tea in the kitchen, and he felt like he was going to pass out. He was home alone, so he called 911. They picked him up and took him to Mobile Infirmary. They admitted him for possibly another stroke or TIA. While doing tests, they did a special scan of his brain and noticed that the original blockage from his first stroke, looked bigger. Up until now, the original blockage had remained stable and didn’t need any intervention. Well, unfortunately, the blockage had grown in size and is now too risky to remove or stent unless it’s a last ditch effort to save his life. This means he could have another massive stroke at any given time if he pushes himself too hard. He’s been having memory problems and he stays exhausted, as his brain is working hard to get better. We also found out he’s been having silent seizures as he sleeps at night so now he’s on seizure medication. He was also diagnosed with diabetes.

To try and improve his health, the doctors have told him that he has to slow down, way down. His neurologist has recommended and helped us find resources to start the application process for disability. The disability process is very slow and Lamar isn’t able to find a feasible job. I work full-time, making $13.00 an hour, at a church daycare in Daphne, Al. We have one working vehicle. It’s a 2016 Subaru. We make it a priority to pay the car payments since I couldn’t get to work without it. However, we’ve been struggling to pay for car maintenance, including our tires. There isn’t any tread left on all 4, one tire needs air daily, and I’m driving back and forth between Daphne and Mobile, Alabama, constantly worried about a blowout on the interstate. To top it off, our air conditioning has gone completely out in our vehicle . I’m not young, I will be turning 59 in September, and Lamar turned be 60 in May 2025. It’s barely tolerable to even drive in our car because the heat is so bad this summer.

Another problem is our tag has been expired since 2023, and renewing it is way too expensive for us at this point. Last year, our insurance policy lapsed for a mere 24 hours, and the tag office is charging us a whopping $735 for that one hiccup. That’s highway robbery! We’ve also accumulated a few outstanding tickets due to the expired tag. Each time, we try to explain to the police why we haven’t gotten our tag updated but they don’t want to hear it and just hand us the ticket.

And guess what? It just keeps getting worse! We have an order from the IRS for $3,800 that needs to be paid and we need to start a payment plan or they’ll garnish what little wages I have.

I have set up a payment plan for 160.00 a

month. I do not know how I will come up with an extra 160.00 a month on 1 income.

And finally, the most embarrassing/worst part about all of this is: We were evicted from our apartment in February, the day after Lamar got so sick. We now have everything we own in a storage unit. We are literally homeless. I can’t even believe those words are coming out of my mouth.

My sweet daughter and her husband are have been so kind to us and have been letting us live with their family in Daphne for two weeks out of the month. Then, for the other two weeks, we move all our stuff, including Phoebe, our doodle , to live with my precious son’s family in Mobile. We’ve been doing this since February, but still can’t save a dime towards a place of our own. I just got a new job at Baldwin County School Board in Fairhope last week August 1st, but it won’t bring in much more money. Commuting back and forth to Daphne from Mobile, 2 weeks out of the month, is expensive. It’s about $50.00 a week on gas.

I can’t understand how this happened to us. I would have never thought we’d end up in a situation like this at our age. We don’t have any retirement, and we can’t even save a dime. We’re homeless, and we’re a few weeks away from a car that we can’t drive anymore. We’ve prayed and gone over every financial situation we can think of, but we haven’t found any answers.

We’re feeling so overwhelmed and desperate for help. My kids and their families have sacrificed so much of their own money, time and energy trying to help us for the last few years. We both feel so sorry and sad about them having to constantly help us when we should be able to help them. Life at this age should be less stressful and more happy. Our attorney told us that our disability claim could take another 8-12 months, and we can’t keep going like this. We see no light at the end of the tunnel. We truly don’t know what to do anymore.

Lamar is able to work 20 hours or less a week. He can’t make over 13.00 a hour, or his disability application will be disqualified. He isn’t able to do what he has done his whole life anymore. He can’t physically work on cars in the heat but he knows all about them. If anyone knows of any part time work he can do, please let us know. He can do everything as far as memory wise, he is just a little slower and tires easier. Also, anything having to do with a computer overwhelms him. 

All that being said, if anyone could spare a donation, big or small, or even just some prayers, or a share we would be so grateful. I’ve never had to ask for help before, and it’s incredibly tough and a bit humiliating. We’ve already applied for food stamps, housing vouchers, and any other assistance we can get, but we don’t seem ti qualify , I do not understand.It must be that we do not have dependents . We’re doing everything we can, but we are absolutely desperate. Please pray for us and our family.

Thank you so much for reading, 

Ginger, Lamar, and Phoebe Key