Hello, it's me, Shelly, from Barnstormer's... and whelp, this is something I never thought I would do. Buuuuut...

*Edit* Hi everybody ~ it was suggested that I tell you a little about myself since some people who see this don't know who I am :)

My name is Shelly and I'm from Medford Oregon, a small town about a half an hour north of the California border. I'm the mom of 2 boys (mostly grown now) and I've been an entrepreneur and small business owner since 2012. I've had Barnstormer's since 2019, which is a pop-up market focused on small locally owned businesses and makers. It started off as a strictly vintage market in a field and has grown since then. Like all small businesses, I've had to evolve since covid as well as a changing landscape with pop-up markets.

I've managed to hang on so far!

I love what I do. Sometimes it's hard because it feels like I work in a vacuum - it's only me running the business. But when market week arrives and I see all the vendors and shoppers again - it reminds me why I do what I do.

This last year has been a struggle in more ways than one - each time I thought Ok! I made it!

Then this happened. It felt like the icing on the cake. Why me. Why now. But -

I am moving forward. I will make it through this just like I've made it through everything else, one way or another!

***

In November, after the holiday market, somehow a fraudster got ahold of my debit card information. Fraudulent charges posted on my business debit card. They started with $2, then $10, so it wasn't noticeable, and when they thought they could get more money, they ended up with thousands in charges being approved by the bank. In just a couple of days, I was out $8600 - nearly my entire bank account balance. (insert actual crying emoji here)

You might be thinking, gosh, that happened to me and I told the bank and we did an investigation, and the bank gave me my money back!

Yep, if it was on my personal debit card, that would be the case. But business debit cards are not protected from fraud AT ALL.

At. All.

So.

All the money from the November show, the money to start paying for the Spring show, food money... All gone.

There is literally nothing I can do about it (except never use a business debit card again in my life).

I decided to try Go Fund Me. I've seen other people set them up.

For me, this is a lot of money to just kiss goodbye. I have been just trying not to think about it. And I know there are people in much worse circumstances...

But here is my plea, to try to recover some of what I lost to bank fraud. If you are so inclined, please, help a girl out.