Help rebuild our tiny home...

We are Jessie Coalter Price and Morgan Turner, and we are in need of some help rebuilding our tiny home on wheels.

During the pandemic, like many others, Jessie got laid off from her job, and she decided to use her newfound free time to fulfill her dreams of building out a van myself in the hopes of living full-time on the road.

As a novice builder and a beginner at electrical wiring and solar power, it took some time and experimentation, but with the help of her dad and some friends, she was able to build a beautiful and functional tiny home.

Over the past year, we have been living in the van almost full time, traveling all over the United States. Some of our favorite highlights include traveling through the northwest, hopping from ski slope to ski slope, spending Thanksgiving eating a full lobster dinner that we cooked in our fully functional van kitchen and visiting our childhood neighborhoods on the east coast.

2 weeks ago, we were traveling from visiting friends in Chicago to Wisconsin Dells when a deer jumped in front of our van. It happened so quickly that Morgan didn't even have time to react or swerve. Our airbags deployed, and together we sat quietly, in disbelief of what just happened, as we tried to find a safe place to pull over and look at the damage.

The front end was crunched, smells and smoke/steam escaped from under the hood, and there were signs that the poor deer was no longer with us. Luckily, we both walked away from the accident with minor bruising and scrapes, but unfortunately, we cannot say the same for Sunnie (our van's name is Sunnie).

Our insurance deemed Sunnie a total loss.

The goal is to get into a new (to-us) van and rebuild as soon as we can. Luckily, we've been able to stay with family while we were waiting on the autobody shop and insurance to deliver the news.

Here is where I need some help. Last month, Jessie was laid off by her job (her main source of income), and though she had success with getting into a new position, the new pay is significantly lower, and let's just say She’s  having a lot of trouble paying my bills as it is. With the added bonus of totaling our home, I would be forever grateful for a little help to get us back on our feet.

The funds will be used for the expenses to salvage the equipment and parts from the previous build, to relocate our things to a place where we can start to get our lives back on track and to finance a new van and build the camper conversion into our new home.

Jessie Coalter Price (she/her) is a 31-year-old illustrator, graphic designer, & content creator living in a van full time with her best friend Morgan Turner. One of Jessie's greatest passions is encouraging others to do what they love, and to live healthy and fulfilling lives. She loves creating spaces where people feel accepted, valued, and worthy. As a plus-size person in the outdoorsy/adventure/health community where representation is sparse, she has made it her mission to emphasize that Health and Fitness is for EVERYONE. She speaks openly about her own struggles online and uses her art and illustration to celebrate all body types and gender identities along with her personal dealings with mental health.

Morgan is an advocate for human rights and in acknowledging her white privilege is constantly listening, reading and learning how to better support the people in the United States and around the world facing injustices everyday. She believes black and trans lives matter, she is against police brutality and Asian hate, she wants to see the end of the term “male dominated careers” and equal pay for all genders and races, and she is a proud queer human who fights for the separation of church and state and stands behind the phrase “my body, my choice”. Her constant goal is to become a better advocate and to help other people’s voices be heard.