Hi everyone. I'm Milena. You may have heard of me from my investigative documents about some community drama that exploded a couple of years ago.

While I had a high-paying big tech job that let me throw money at streamers and community members in need back then, I lost my job in May of 2024. As I'm sure you've seen, the industry has only become more saturated with laid-off professionals since then, but even non-tech jobs have been hard to come by.

While I've been able to subsist on the generosity of friends and my father for the past year, that's become unsustainable and I will be losing my current living space at the end of July. For reasons I'm sure I don't have to explain, everyone in my family is either unable or unwilling to take me in. I should still have access to showers and laundry for now, but I'm not going to assume that that will be indefinite.

I'm actively pursuing public assistance like shelters and food, but at this point, I'm ready to ask for a big enough bump to get started on driving Uber, which will take ~$500 (car rental + deposit). From there, driving for Uber will pay for itself. While I'll be left with about one-third of my earnings between the car payments, taxes, and Uber's cut, I hope that I can start making enough to get back on my feet within a few months, if not a couple.

Aside from that, phone service (so I can still take calls for potential jobs), storage space for my stuff, and a monthly public transit pass will run about $400/mo.

The moonshot stretch goal is to be able to afford this steal of a deal I've found on a used car for $5000. It gets decent mileage and would mean I could save $250-$300 per week by not having to rent through Uber to drive for them.

I know that I still have great things to offer any company and community I'm a part of, so I'm doing my damnedest to not give up and I'll absolutely be giving back again as soon as I'm able.

Please help me survive until then. Thank you for anything and everything.