Help save Chris Hendrix’s home!!!!!!

STRETCH GOAL TIME!!!!!!

Thank you to everyone who contributed and who was a part of our reaching the original fundraiser goal of $22,120 in just 10 days!!!!

Due to the unexpected swiftness with which it was raised and the dire need for more funds, we're doing a stretch goal for an additional $10,000 (bringing the new goal to $32,120), though more would definitely be better and put to good use!!!

The details are below, but the short version is that we severely lowballed the original goal amount because asking for even that much seemed insurmountably high, but given the unexpected enthusiasm of both friends and strangers to help out, we are asking for an amount that would do to more to address the severity of the situation inside of Chris's house now that we have enough money to buy it back.

We will be pursuing this stretch goal until the benefit show for Chris on Sunday May 21st at Saturn. Below covers the positive developments since the fundraiser was originally announced and gives the details on why more money is needed and how it would be spent.

------

THE GOOD NEWS

Several positive things have happened since the fundraiser was initially launched:

WHAT WE NEED THE EXTRA MONEY FOR

As Chris's close friends already know, but acquaintances might not, Chris's house itself is in an extreme state of disrepair and the situation inside the house is fairly intense.

Chris has given me permission to say that, while he does not like the word, the inside of his house resembles an episode of "Hoarders" and barely has enough space to move around in. He has also given me permission to say that there are live animals in the living area of the house which are mostly rodents, but up until recently also included two possums who were able to go in and out of the house at will (but have since moved on).

All additional money will go to one of two purposes. The first and most straightforward would be to clean and repair the house as much as possible with the money that we have and via programs that Chris qualifies for.

It is way too early to say if this second option is financially feasible, but if there is enough extra money and the lawyer is able to negotiate a lower price for buying the house back, it is possible that Chris could apply for affordable disability housing which would be around $300 / mo utilities included while Chris keeps his house as a storage space for non-valuable items (and potentially also as a practice pad), thereby allowing him to move into a clean and healthy space that only has what is of value and what he truly needs and actively uses, and is maintained by an outside entity. His weekly services would help him to maintain the environment, and some of these buildings also have people on the premises to help with medical emergencies.

(It will be a while before we have the full picture on what this would cost and what the true state of the house is as we clean it up. If Chris moves out, then a chunk of the money would go towards moving expenses rather than repairs made unnecessary by moving.)

Specific repairs needed:

IN CONCLUSION

Once again, ONE THOUSAND THANK YOU'S TO EVERYONE WHO DONATED, SO FAR!!!!! Please keep sharing out the fundraiser. I truly believe that we can do this!!!!!!!!!

-------

PLEASE NOTE UPDATES ARE BEING POSTED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE ORIGINAL FUNDRAISER TEXT.

-------

(ORIGINAL FUNDRAISER TEXT)

TL;DR - Chris is at risk of losing his house if we are unable to raise enough money to cover his back taxes in the next 11 days (by 2/23/23). Even (or especially) if it does not appear that we will meet this goal, please donate anyway as he will urgently need funds to relocate and move items into storage. Details below.

-------

Beloved local musician and former door person at The Bottletree, Chris Hendrix, is at risk of losing his family home and we are urgently trying to raise funds to help him. We are hoping that after four decades of being an active and beloved member of Birmingham's music scene that people will step forward to help, and that the media will take an interest in the situation of a disabled musician being forced from a house that has been in his family for three generations.

At this moment, a number of factors, including how much money we can raise and what social programs will be able to help him, will determine if the best course of action will be to try to preserve his ownership of his home, buy him some additional time in his home until he can move into affordable disability housing, or provide him with a cushion if everything fails and he is forced out of his house in the immediate future.

PLEASE NOTE that while the goal amount of this fundraiser (the amount of back taxes + $5000 for badly needed home repairs + money to cover Gofundme's fees) is high, that even if we are not able to meet it, there are still a number of other options for moving forward and every penny raised is urgently needed. The money absolutely will go to very good and urgent use whether we meet the goal or not.

Also, there is also a list of non-financial ways to help Chris in the "Non-financial ways to help" section, below.

The Problem

Chris has been living off of a monthly SSI check of $941 / mo since 2014. This has largely not been enough money to survive off of, and it certainly has not been enough money to pay his property taxes which have accumulated and incurred penalties. (Chris was unaware that he qualified for a property tax break as a disabled person, but after consulting with a lawyer we are told that that is only something that could only be applied to future tax bills and not retroactively.)

As a result of being delinquent on his taxes, a property group was able to purchase Chris' property for the price of the back taxes and is currently telling him that either he needs to pay $16,476.53 in back taxes, fees, penalties, and interest by 2/23/23 or he needs to sign a lease with them to pay them rent he cannot afford, or he needs to move out of the premises (which is not readily physically possible both given his severe physical disabilities in and of themselves as well as the thousands of records, books, cds, and movies he owns, among other possessions).

Non-financial ways to help

Who is Chris Hendrix?

While best known amongst his friends as being one of the sweetest human beings to ever walk the earth, Chris Hendrix has been performing on the guitar, drums, and vocals in Birmingham since 1984. He is a force of nature as a musician and has shaped the face of rock'n'roll and punk rock in Alabama over the past four decades.

Bands Chris has played in include: G.N.P. (Grossest National Product), Lockbody, the Fat Ogre Xperienz, Idioblast, Pinkie the Stabber, Clarity, The Hemogoblins, Throng of Shoggoths, Scrudge, Lamenstra, Fugly, The Head Kids, The Others, Soundheads, Spacewats, Inc, The Space Christ Initiative, Thee Dantalion Ogrestra, D.A.M.N., Ogredrive, \H\E/L/L, Li'l Guinea Pig & the Lab Ratz, Shkooda, Aethenoth, Genie McElroy's 0utcasts, Beauty is the Enemy.

Bands that Chris has played opening up for include: the Misfits, the Ramones, Black Flag, the Meat Puppets, GBH, Corrosion of Conformity, Jucifer, the Demolition Doll Rods, the Accused, Born Against, and the Murder Junkies.

Unfortunately, Chris suffers from pain in both hips and knees from being hit by a drunk driver years ago, he has diabetes and painful neuropathy in his feet, back pain, an extreme migraine condition, asthma, sleep apnea, bipolar disorder / depression, and he almost certainly meets the criteria to be diagnosed with OCD.

On the whole, he suffers from extensive physical pain, limited mobility, and is incapacitated to the point where he struggles to perform the tasks of daily living and maintaining a safe environment for himself. He is currently on a waitlist for a Medicaid Waiver program that will provide weekly in-home services and will follow him wherever he goes, but his overall condition means that he will need to pay people to do whatever he is unable to do for himself that his friends may be unable to help with.

Who am I?

My name is Gwendolyn and I graduated from Shades Valley RLC in 1993 and was most active in the Birmingham rock scene from 1995-2004 until I moved to Austin, TX. Chris and I have been good friends since 1995 and have talked on the phone 2-5 times a week for 45-120 minutes a pop for years (*not* an exaggeration).

In the rock scene, I am probably best remembered for my role as a punk rock nurse wheeling Chris onto the stage when Lockbody opened for the Misfits / the Ramones / Black Flag at the Boiler Room (pictured below). In the current moment, I am best known as a disabled performer / artist / activist in Austin, TX who is involved with disability rights and helping my fellow disabled people navigate the system.

-------

UPDATE #1: The fundraiser is almost at $19,000 and we are very grateful!! There are three positive updates to notify people about:

1. Chris now has a pro bono lawyer. He should be able to help Chris look out for his interests in this situation as well as get his property tax bill reduced in the future as a disabled person, provided that everything works out for Chris to keep his home.

2. Chris has an application in for a case manager which is someone whose job it is to know about resources and programs and will fill out applications for what Chris qualifies for on his behalf. We are told that it should take about three weeks for everything to be processed and for this to begin.

3. We have a slight extension of the deadline in that we now have until 2/28/23 at 5pm to get the money to this property group (the extension was for "two weeks", but they fortunately started counting down from a slightly later date). THAT SAID, given the amount of time that it takes to transfer funds via financial institutions and for checks to arrive in the mail, we still need to have as much money as possible by the 23rd in order to be able to decide for sure what we are going to do.

THANK YOU *SO* MUCH for all of the love and support. Please keep sharing the fundraiser out- we can do this!!!!