2019 has not been kind to many of us. A sudden increase to a $2000 electric bill plus repairs needed for winter totaling at least another $2000 has us fighting to keep up. We're not a large family, myself, my wife, our two dogs, and two close friends. We have 2 incomes, 2 school loans, and are battling to get my wife disability/SSI. It's been a trying year and the fight to keep things going has been a nonstop struggle for us this past year. Now, with temperatures dropping and winter looming ahead of us, we're at the point where we need to ask for help. Friends and family know we've had a lot happen in the past year. I'll give a detailed breakdown below. The bulk of it is continuous car disasters have strained us to the point that we've barely been able to keep up with important things like rent and electricity. Along the way we've had more and more issues coming up with our mobile home. Each issue that has arisen has increased our electric bill and added another expense that we have no way to pay for. We were considered low income until recent changes in some statewide statistics. That change has piled on an over $2,000 electric bill that is only going to continue to climb if we can't get our mobile home winterized. We have damage from stray cats getting in under the house last year that has detached much of the duct work and ruined the heat tape beneath the house. Estimated repairs on this are just shy of $700. Wind damage from summer storms has left the roof in need of maintenance in some places. We have a small leak already forming in the living room. This too is likely to be over $500 though, in all honesty, the entire roof needs to be redone. In addition to the large repairs running heaters to attempt to get us through the winter last year damaged some of the electrical. We no longer have use of about half a dozen outlets, including our dryer. This fix alone could be anywhere from $500 to thousands depending on how bad the damage is. Late last year our only vehicle was totaled by a deer. Less than a month later the replacement vehicle was totaled by a reckless driver. After that we didn't get a new vehicle until late January. This "new" vehicle was donated to us by family. It is a 1998 Transport with 280,000 miles on it. We knew it was only a matter of time but the cost of Lyft to get people to and from work was eating through more than half the income we did have. February, the temperatures dropped so low our pipes froze and burst costing nearly $1000 in repairs. April, I finally found a job I was able to do with my medical restrictions! Finally another income! May, the fuel pump on the van died. Nearly $500 in repairs and we got it back on the road... only for one of the front tires to blow on the way home from the shop!! Without a spare we had to wait until payday to get another tire and really get back on the road. June, the temperatures finally spiked for summer. The damage to the ductwork beneath the house means no AC either. I was also alerted that having a job meant I was no longer eligible for Medicaid. Even though I was bringing in less than $20,000 the state would not consider my wife and I as a 2 person household. $19,000 annual is too much for a single person to qualify for health care. I am diabetic and need over $100 in medications monthly to try to keep it under control. July and the brakes went on the van, another $400 fix only worsened by the fact that the brakes had not been done in far far too long. Rust on the poor old van resulted in further damages during the repair process. August, the fuel pump went out again but this time it was an electrical issue. We feared the worst but this one was only a relatively small repair. Still, it was $250 we couldn't afford to spare. I finally admit defeat and cut my hours at work to keep my annual income under the threshold for Medicaid. September and the lack of insurance finally caught up with me. I ended up in the hospital twice because my diabetes could not be controlled without my medications, despite my best efforts. Not only was this incredibly stressful it also meant I missed a significant amount of work. This month our electric company also decided that with my income we no longer qualify for a low income shut off protection plan. Our payments went from $200 a month to adding on all the overages we had accrued over the entire last year. Suddenly we owe $2218 I am still trying to get medicaid reinstated. We have reached out to the state for assistance multiple times and been denied. I work from home and with the risk of the power being shut off looming over us it's hard to say if I'll be able to continue working even the hours I am scheduled. We've been fighting this so hard but we've already asked so much. With our current income we could scrape by but additional costs coming up every month means choosing which bills to pay and which to let slide and we simply can not overcome this $2000 electric bill. Please help us get this taken care of and our home winterized so we can prevent something similar in the future!