Hi friends,

This is Izzí (and Shiloh), asking for your support in overcoming debt and tragedy.

We recently experienced a large fire in our apartment, which left us without any kitchen appliances and supplies. Our apartment is luckily largely still intact but has suffered a lot of damage (there's soot and smoke webs everywhere), especially in our kitchen. Not being able to cook for ourselves has forced us to eat prepared meals daily, which is amounting to a great expense. While I receive supplemental nutritional assistance income, it's not enough to maintain a standard diet throughout an entire month, and my neighborhood is bereft of options for quality cold meals.

In addition to recent severe trauma with the fire, we were assaulted and detained by plainclothes marshals who were investigating the fire the next day, who neither revealed their identities nor the reason why they were stopping me while assaulting me. After four days in custody with bloody knees and a deep feeling of having been violated, I am now fighting trying legal battles which have been draining my spirit. I believe that our current administration's culture of brutality and force through ICE empowered this assault against me, and I'm doing what I can to advocate for myself in court and fight against the charge I now face for resisting unlawful arrest. 

In addition to these legal troubles, our financial obstacles have been really hard to work against on a modest unemployment income. I've needed to take out short-term loans in order to meet urgent expenses, which has left me in a cycle of debt and poverty. We need help getting out of the hole and back to solvency, and can't do it without your generosity and grace.

As a Black trans woman, it is difficult feeling increasingly unsafe and targeted under the current administration. It's felt more important than ever to pursue gender-affirming care (like getting my hair braided) which helps me feel like I more closely align with my gender identity and ideal expression. I had recently lost a substantial amount of clothing while homeless and am trying to rebuild a wardrobe to get me through the four seasons as well. It's been tough recycling clothing daily and not being able to prioritize laundry services.

Your support will go a long way towards helping us back on our feet. Shiloh herself could use your support—she's on a costly prescription diet to manage a urinary issue which I haven't been able to provide over the last month. While she's doing okay, I want her to have access to this medicinal food to remain in optimal health. She recently received an exam and is in good health apart from this, and we'd like to ensure she remains that way and that we eliminate the urinary issue.

Due to my disabilities (C-PTSD, Anxiety, Depression, ADHD, and Dissociative Identity Disorder), it is hard to maintain a clean living space. It would be helpful to be able to prioritize deep cleaning services on a semi-regular cadence, which can help with laundry and my general well-being. Since moving into this apartment, I haven't been able to invest in items to make it truly functional, and with the recent fire, we lost many of the belongings that had helped us to get by. While we can slowly replace these items over time, it would be helpful to be able to do so more quickly to be able to establish a sense of normalcy.

We hope you'll empathize with our plight and help us overcome our hardship. It's only been through the support of friends, family, and loved ones that we've made it this far, and I'm hopeful our community and extended community might see us through. If you're reading this, please know your support will really help uplift us at a time when we need it most.

Thank you for your compassion, generosity of spirit, and grace.

—Izzí and Shiloh