Hi everyone, my name is Santiago.

I have lived and worked in South Florida for most of my life. I run a small IT and computer repair business. It is not a big operation. It is me, my truck, my tools, and a client list I built one person at a time over many years. Somebody's laptop dies, somebody's network goes down, somebody's small office needs a hand. They call me because someone they trust told them to. That is the whole business model, and it took years to build.

In October 2025, I went through a difficult situation in my community that led to public misunderstanding, harmful media coverage, and serious damage to my reputation and livelihood. On November 18, 2025, the State Attorney's Office formally closed the matter for insufficient evidence. Nothing was ever proven. It never went forward. I have the letter.

The letter is the part almost nobody saw.

The coverage went out to a lot of people very quickly. The outcome went out to almost nobody. Those articles are still online today, still indexed, still the first thing that comes up when someone types my name into a search bar. So the version of me that the internet shows a potential client is the version that the evidence did not support, and there is no correction attached to it. For a business that runs on trust and word of mouth, that is not an inconvenience. That is the floor giving out. My income has not recovered.

What I lost that year was not only work.

Some of you knew Doc. He was my dog for 16 and a half years. Toward the end he got around with a wheelchair and took seizure medication every day, and he never once acted like any of that was a burden. He was here through the worst of this with me. He was family, not a pet, and I lost him this year on top of everything else. I still have Maui, my 6-year-old, and he is the reason I get up and keep going on the days when I would rather not.

I am not comfortable asking for help. I have spent my whole adult life being the person other people call when something breaks. Being on this side of it is hard to write, let alone post. But I would rather ask honestly than quietly lose everything I built.

What the funds are for:

- Rent, utilities, and groceries through the months my income has been down

- Equipment, software, and licensing costs to keep my business operating

- Food and veterinary care for Maui

- Everyday essentials while I get back on my feet

That is it. Every dollar goes to those needs and nothing else, and I am glad to account for any of it to anyone who asks.

If you are able to give, thank you sincerely. Any amount helps more than you know.

If you cannot give, please share this. Someone who knows me personally, or who knows someone who does, is worth more to me right now than almost anything. The people who actually know me know exactly who I am, and I am counting on that.

Thank you for reading this far.

Santiago Cairo