Help raf secure stable housing and open a homeless shelter

So my name is Raf. I've been homeless off and on since I was 15. I'm now 26, and I've gotta say, going eleven years without ever having stable housing for more than a year or two at this point has taught me everything I need to know to ensure that the moment I have a roof over my head with my name on the lease, I'm never losing it again.

I've also struggled with addiction off and on since I was fifteen. I was sober for three years up until last year. My life finally fell apart after a manic episode, and once I came out of it and realized I had no documents to get a job, no money to replace them, and nowhere to go, I relapsed to ease the pain of being back on the streets. I've now been sober since early October, so it's been about 7 months, and my plan is to double the three years I just had and get at least six years clean this time. The only thing that could ruin that is not having a roof over my head because I don't know if you've ever had to sleep on the sidewalk sober, but I don't recommend it.

I set the bar a little high for this fundraiser, but that's because my goal is to get out of Colorado and come back to California. I'm currently looking for a job here right now, but I have no support system here in Colorado. All my closest friends live back in California, and I want to be around the people I love when I get my place.

The other reason my goal is so high is because in those three years I was clean between 2021-2024, I worked as a case manager at a homeless shelter. In that time, I helped thousands of people on a daily basis and helped hundreds get off the streets and back into housing. I'm absolutely in love with my career, and I'm going to open a homeless shelter of my own in the Bay Area and take everything I've learned here and use it to help the people that are suffering back where I was born and raised.

I'm hoping to get the goal amount raised by the end of the summer, and if anyone wants to be a part of/help me create this organization to help those who need it most, please let me know so we can talk more and set things into motion. The world is a very cold, scary, and unforgiving place, and you can either help make it worse or you can contribute to making it better. There is no in-between. Not doing anything doesn't help the ones trying to make it better, because unfortunately, most people do the easy thing and contribute to making it worse while very few of us choose to do the hard thing and do everything we can to make it a better place for everyone.

Thank you for taking your time to read my story, and I'm eternally grateful for anything you can contribute. It's not only going to put a roof over my head, but it's also going to give me a stable place to start putting roofs over others. Much love, and God bless. (: <3