Rayshawn is Brooklyn-born and bred and is my neighbor in Bed-Stuy. He's a beloved community member who I have been lucky to get to know over the years since I moved to his neighborhood. We met because he's just a friendly dude who will always say hello and offer a helping hand if you look like you could use one. He actually started coming by offering to do yard work and to clean up our street corner, because it's truly a never-ending chore that we've struggled to maintain. He loves his community and spends his days giving back to it in any way that he can.

We've gotten really close over the past 6 months since I helped him file his taxes for the first time ever so that he could claim the pandemic stimulus checks. In going through this process with him, I learned that he has been homeless for years. He wants to work, but he desperately needs a safe place to rest and bathe and just some stability so that he doesn't have to continue to use all his energy on basic survival. He also has a young daughter who is being raised by her grandmother, and he wants to be able to buy her gifts and for her to see him doing good and making moves so that he can be more present in her life.

Let's help Rayshawn achieve this basic human necessity! I'm on the hunt for affordable housing in the neighborhood, and we want to be able to jump right on it as soon as we locate an apartment for him. At a minimum, we'll need first and last months' rent to get him a lease. I'd like to raise enough to pay for 6 or 12 months of rent upfront so that he can start this new chapter in his life ahead of the game instead of racing to keep up. He has an appointment with the IRS in July because they need to confirm his identity before they will accept his tax return, so that money will certainly help, but we aren't sure if or when he will actually receive it. But we know that community takes care of community, and that is why we started this fundraiser. 

Thank you for any contribution you can make!