Hi everyone! My name's Nate, or as most of you probably know, Collie. I go by they/them pronouns. I've been putting this off for a long time because I don't ... really enjoy being vulnerable, specially to a larger audience of people, and I'm very much the person to just smile through it or "i'll figure it out later"s. But! I need help, much to my chagrin. I don't want to go into too much personal detail, but I will try and be as transparent as possible.

I used to live in Olympia, WA. I moved with my uncle back in April of 2020, picked up a job, and fucking LOVED it there. I was able to easily fit in, had a support system, got healthcare I so desperately needed, and eventually moved out on my own. I was able to finally get a service dog, who has been such an amazing help relief to me, and I felt things were finally looking up. I spent about 5 years over there, and, eventually, had to give it all up. I won't go into specifics about why, because it isn't about me, but I had to drop my life in Olympia and move into the south once again. For those of you who don't know, I moved from Louisiana to Oly. I was in a red state with little to no support, with a family who didn't accept me when I came out as trans, an unstable living situation, no friends, no healthcare, etc. Oly was such a breath of fresh air.

I'm in the south again, with my mom and her god awful husband. To give some detail, my mom is a saint. Everyone who meets her, loves her. She is kind, caring, supportive, she gives more than she has and her heart is genuine. She has had a hard life of struggle. Her husband on the other hand, is loud, abusive, cruel. He spends majority of the time in his chair smoking weed and neglecting household duties and her. He spends money he does not have, and it stresses my mom out because she's constantly worried about bills. We've had the cars repo'd, we've been late on rent, we've stretched groceries, bills, medicine, everything. He easily drops 100 bucks on weed(not medically necessary), and doesn't bat an eye about it. He constantly belittles her and myself, and is very 'man of the house' attitude. I will give him that he isn't a bigot, at least, but that doesn't mean he's safe. There's been numerous times I've watched his aggression escalate, and if he isn't high there's no telling what absurd ultimatums or abuse he'll give. The most recent one, he has threatened my mom to leave her (which, given her disability he is her main source of income and support) if I don't cough up enough money a week for them*

*(cough up enough money to cover the bill for his truck that he bought, when we're already behind on rent)

As for myself, things were "fine" until December of last year. I lost my job to no fault of my own once managers changed over. The manager didn't like me, constantly made comments about politics when I was around and constantly misgendered me. Randomly, they fired me for 'attendance' for a 5 minute tardy. I was able to get unemployment, and they had no evidence against me. Thankfully, I do get a small sum weekly, but it isn't enough to do anything with, and with my mom's husbands demands, I am left barely enough to cover Love's food when she needs it. I save up as I can, but I pay for my mom's medicine, some of her car insurance, and small things to make her happy as a relief in all this stress.

My mental health has taken a plummet, so has my physical health. The political climate makes my area unsafe, I have put in over 100+ applications for jobs I am more than qualified for and I get ghosted, denied, or turned away and I can only expect my appearance has something to do with it (most jobs here are evangelical christian forward, and I am very visibly .......... not that.)

The TLDR, I need healthcare, I need medicines, I need a therapist, a safe space, a place to feel welcomed in. I have all of that in Olympia still, and so I am trying to get back. I have feelers out for landing pads like couches and free rooms, I have a job waiting for me, but I don't have the funds to GET to there. My dog's medicine, her food, my food, my medicine, plane tickets, new clothing, new furniture, things to survive, etc. It gets costly, and so I'm writing this in hopes to get a little bit of help as I penny pinch what I have from unemployment.

If those helping are interested, I do pet portrait commissions and I am more than willing to provide a service for your donation. If you'd like one, you can find the post on my blueksy