Help the Howard Family from Homelessness!

"First, if you’re here, I want to thank you for reading. It is so difficult to ask for help, and I wouldn’t do it unless the situation were desperate. My name is Kate. I am a 36 year old wife and mother. My husband Kory and I have 2 wonderful kids (14 and 16 almost), both of whom are special needs. Kory is an electrician, and before I became too sick to work, I was a professional photographer. Covid-19 has completely halted our income, as was happened to so many. Since Kory is an electrician, he can’t enter homes or businesses to work. Even though we have tried every avenue possible, we are now $12,000 behind on rent, and have an (illegal) eviction pending since October 1st. Because the home we were living in was scheduled for demolition, we were not eligible for government assistance or COVID renter protections. Our landlord is now proceeding with an illegal eviction, cutting off our utilities to force us out of the home. Going so fat as to steal my children’s toys from the driveway and steal our washer and dryer. (Police reports have been filed for both incidents) Because I suffer from debilitating autoimmune diseases (Addison’s, Type-1 Diabetes, Neuropathy, Arthritis, Raynaud’s, Hashimoto’s, POTS, Morton’s Neuroma, and fibromyalgia), I cannot work. I am currently on 27 prescription medications, and this only covers my physiological issues. I have tried 211. I have gone to food banks and charities for help. There is no further help available to us, and all attempts to find a pro bono tenant lawyer have failed so far. We are desperately in need of help. Kory and I have no family to help, our friends are trying, but everyone is struggling now. We have no choice but to rely on the compassion of complete strangers to reach some sort of stability. As horrible and bitter as that is, we have to take care of our children and our own critical, medical needs. My teeth are irreparably damaged from the steroids that I *have* to take to control my Addison’s. These steroids keep me alive, but are killing me slowly. The 12 teeth that I have left need to be pulled desperately. Dentures are out of the question financially; implants are a $30,000 dream I know will not come true. The state of my teeth and jaws led to a massive infection in my jaw bone last year that almost killed me and left me in constant and severe mouth pain making eating next to impossible with out pain. In the last 4 years, I have been to the ER with critical episodes once a month at the very least, and in the past 12 months I have been in ICU 8 times. Unfortunately, my genetic lottery has been partially passed on to our children. Our 15 year old son has ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) as do I and his father. He will be with us forever, and we continue to fight for disability benefits, which so far have not been granted. He also has ADD, Addison’s, fibromyalgia, and IBS. Our 14 year old daughter deals with ADHD, dyscalculia, dyslexia, and Duane Syndrome. They’re amazing kids who never complain about their lot in life or the pain they live with. They are activists in their communities and I couldn’t be prouder of them. I was denied disability for myself, despite my well-documented medical history. And now, we are fighting for medical care for our son and daughter as well. We will have to file for bankruptcy. Because I need to keep the sparse medical benefits I have to stay alive, I will have to divorce my beautiful husband of 17 years, that I love more than life. My husband has no health insurance because we can’t afford it. I understand how hard things are for everyone. And asking for help is the hardest thing I have ever done. But as a mother, I will swallow all of my pride, because we do not have enough money for first and last month’s rent as well as a deposit. We need help. Please. I swear that as soon as we are able, we will pay it forward. Thank you for listening to our story. Thank you for every penny, every share. Thank you from the core of my soul