Help Teresa- homeless educator

Hi. My name is Vivian Liu, and I am fundraising on behalf of Teresa (alias name used for privacy), a senior woman I met at the Cornerstone Fellowship. She worked as a teacher but now can't afford to wait a month for a paycheck and lives in her car.

Here is her story, shortened from my blog.

Teresa has a Master´s degree in education. However, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, she lost the substitute teaching job she had just started. As she had only been working for two weeks before the school lockdown in the spring of 2020, she did not qualify for California´s unemployment insurance.

With schools closed, Teresa´s only source of income was working as a driver, which wasn't very lucrative due to quarantine. Due to the lack of income, it only took six months for Teresa to max out her credit card. On top of that, Teresa also left her housing at the end of the lease period and began using her earnings from driving to live in Extended Stays America Hotels, which offers affordable pricing for long-term stays. Unfortunately, the hotel prices increased during the summer tourism season, compelling Teresa to consider alternate housing options. All these disastrous events, one after another, forced Teresa to face the reality of becoming homeless.

Currently, Teresa works as a driver and lives in her car in a church parking lot. While Teresa is still looking for housing or a room to share, the search has been difficult because her once-perfect credit score has plummeted due to her struggles caused by the pandemic. The time-consuming nature of driving for a living leaves Teresa with little time to find another job.

In the meantime, Teresa drives several hours a day and searches for some flexible and fast-paying jobs. But in the future, Teresa hopes to get her teaching license renewed.

Unfortunately, Teresa´s car is worsening in condition from all the hours spent driving. If Teresa´s story speaks to you, please consider supporting Teresa in getting some car repairs.

I have added Teresa as the beneficiary so that all funds will go directly to her. In addition, Teresa asked me to share the fundraising video she created (linked to this post) for the fundraising effort.

For the full-length story on Teresa, click here.

Other ways to support Teresa: check out her graphic art commissions here