Help Braun Family Save Their CAR
WE RELY ON OUR CAR FOR EVERYTHING! I do gig work all over the state now and need safe, reliable transportation to keep my new job!! Our entire family is also high-risk, hubby is newly disabled, immune-compromised by lung disease made worse by Covid infections… And our kiddo is still in a car seat, he has sensory needs for traveling we can only maintain by having our own car...
Thank you so much for taking time to read and share this GFM campaign! You are saving our family <3
My name is Tiffany Jewel, and many of you know me as an activist and community organizer for housing jsutice and disability justice, online and on the ground with various organizations. I am also an artist, budding writer and full-time mom to a very special kiddo, Greyson. Some of you know him as The Dood : ) We are reaching out to friends and kind-hearted strangers for urgent help to save our family car/suv because without it we are sunk. Any donation - big or small - and especially sharing this GFM with friends and wider community, across social media platforms, your support truly makes all the difference for our high-risk family!
Our family has been hit hard by the pandemic, over and over again… from job loss during lockdown having to sell our home and relocate cross-country, being repeatedly displaced, to struggling with new more debilitating chronic health problems. Hubby is now disabled by chronic progressive interstitial lung disease (sarcoidosis) and Long Covid which means he is not currently able to work; and I live with severe chronic mental and physical health issues all my life, but had to push through it to become what you might call a “High Functioning” disabled person. I work two part-time gig jobs consistently now just to pay our rent and try to catch up on bills… But car payments fell months behind, so now that our lease is up very soon THE DEALERSHIP WILL REPOSSESS OUR CAR !!!
This is a crisis because we only have ONE source of income now -- and that relies entirely on me having a car to travel long distance for work !!!
I’m Audhd with a long history of traumas and every day is a struggle, but I am doing everything I can to support myself and my family, and so is Dave. But we have very few family ties, very limited resources depleted by ongoing pandemic hardships… and we are just starting to get back on our feet! With everything going on health-wise and working as much as possible, all my paychecks so going to move-in costs and rent for our new apartment... I am overwhelmed. Have not been able to deal with this car situation and really didn't know what to do...
We feel terrible for asking while so many others are struggling, too. Yet we have no choice. And we only have UNTIL CHRISTMAS to make this happen! We really, urgently need your help because without a car and barely re-housed, I would loose my new job and our family would be out on the street soon !!! So this truly is an emergency situation! We need to raise approx $10,000 to buy to keep the car/suv we have that is still in great condition, safe and secure for our high-risk family!
Other ways to help:
(links below)
Tiffany's Patreon: Tiffany Jewel Creations
CashApp: tiffanyjewelNotMeUS
PayPal: TiffanyJewelNotMeUS
Major Life Changes:
It has been a major adjustment to reverse roles from being a college student working in restaurants to disabled stay-home mom and then back to the workforce... while my husband went from working, hiking and mountain biking in college to now spending some days bed-bound and barely able to walk up a flight of stairs anymore....
My hubby Dave is an artist and musician newly disabled by sarcoidosis interstitial lung disease, permanent lung scarring that worsens his chronic asthma, and made even worse by Covid infections. He has been repeatedly hospitalized from pneumonia and even from the Flu! Dave sacrificed his health to keep me, his wife, and our child re-housed through the first years of the pandemic by re-locating us to Washington State to attend grad school in-person in order to get the affordable student family housing….. He recently graduated with an MFA but severely disabled : (
We take every precaution possible to avoid further illness, like avoiding crowds and most indoor spaces, and masking anywhere we have to go. But only kiddo and I can wear masks, so our family's risk is even greater, adding even more to this car crisis:
HUBBY CANNOT MASK BECAUSE OF ASTHMA! SO WE NEED OUR CAR FOR SAFE TRANSPORTATION TO PROTECT OUR FAMILY FROM MORE ILLNESS !!
We cannot safely rely on public transportation like taking the bus in this ongoing pandemic that has already taken so much from our family. We. Need. To. Keep. Our. Car. And we urgently need community support to do that! Any and all help is deeply appreciated! No amount is too small and every donation helps booooost visibility of our GoFundMe campaign and keep it circulating!
The goal: $10,000
To buy the car outright at the end of our lease would cost about $20,000 total. What we need at minimum is a down payment (about 10%) plus taxes are 12%, then fees and tags. The residual (value of our car at the end of the lease) should be roughly $13,500; but unfortunately because we missed a few payments we still owe an additional $2,000. We may also have to pay late fees and admin fees, etc in addition to the down payment. So we have set our GFM total goal at $10,000 to cover everything to buy/keep our car and have lower monthly payments, plus a buffer so we don't end up in another crisis situation!
The plan is for to me to BUY OUR LEASED CAR BEFORE XMAS from the dealership (before they take it from us) and that requires a down payment and more !!! We have been living paycheck to paycheck for so many years that we cannot possibly afford this by ourselves. So we are asking for your help, for the kindness of friends and strangers to save our family from certain job loss and homelessness…
!!! We just got rehoused last month !!! After grad school housing ended, being left displaced for nearly 3 months living with friends, extended family and then basically living out of our car moving between several motels… I was finally able to start two new jobs and get us moved into a small apartment near friends! But we only recently moved to WA for grad school and don't have any family in this state. We are just getting settled, starting to put down roots here and find new community... But we simply don't have much time to avoid this crisis. The lease on our car is up in just two weeks – RIGHT AFTER CHRISTMAS. It’s horrible timing and the stress is literally killing us so please do anything you can to help our little family to stay afloat!! Thank you so so much <3 <3
$10,000 goal to cover:
- down payment on the car !
- taxes are 12%
- late/behind car payments
- late fees, admin fees, tags, etc
Worst case scenario, I will have to buy a New Used car and give up our current family car/suv... and then just hope the next one is also safe and reliable, too! That would still require a down payment and fees etc. We are keeping our fingers crossed that this mutual aid request to SAVE BRAUN FAMILY'S CAR goes viral and reaches lots of friends and community in time who can help! Please feel free to use this hashtag:
#SaveBraunFamilyCAR
Endless Hope and Gratitude:
Being unhoused this summer and into fall was brutal and so toxic we nearly lost hope many times, but we made it through because of the love and friendship of a few special people. We have barely survived this far into the pandemic -- and it’s only because of community love and support that we are once again housed in the state we love and being able to stabilize with a steady job, health insurance, hubby’s expensive asthma medications and my anti-depressants needed for taking better care of ourselves and even finding moments of joy this holiday season… And we are eternally grateful <3
Still, it gets harder each day because of social media suppressing my voice every time I try to speak up for the homeless, the disabled and disenfranchised being crushed under end stage capitalism…..especially on TwitterX where I used to have a strong platform and active daily mutual aid community for others in need... But I have lost so much community, friends and connections over the past 4 years - and it directly harms my family and our chances of survival. Loosing this car especially though, would be devastating. It’s unthinkable. We would be entirely screwed… and Dave's health and life would be in real danger. So we are counting on a miracle...
WE NEED A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!
We need wider support and much more visibility across social media platforms.. So please, if you can do anything to help with a small donation and/or a boooost to amplify our mutaid request and this GFM, please do! It truly makes a world of difference. Thank you <3
For more about our family’s art, community work, ongoing struggles and ways to help:
Tiffany's Patreon: Tiffany Jewel Creations
CashApp: tiffanyjewelNotMeUS
PayPal: TiffanyJewelNotMeUS
#SaveBraunFamilysCAR