Greetings to all those that this reaches,

This is Martha Crawford LCSW, and I am asking for help in supporting an amazing young woman who needs a community gathered around her to support her in her goals.

Background

Let me tell you some of Avery's story:

When she was young, her parents divorced - and then when Avery was eleven, her step-father died in a highway accident and her mother passed away from fatal skin cancer shortly afterwards.

Avery moved in with her biological father, unprepared to raise a child, who had significant struggles with substance abuse and was extremely volatile.

Avery assumed a significant amount of responsibility for maintaining the household at a very young age - managing the household finances and correspondence, negotiating with landlords and working many hours to help pay her own tuition at a local private Catholic school. Despite the loss, trauma and chaos surrounding her, Avery was able to maintain excellent grades in school, hold down a job, and consistently volunteer to help others in her community.

It was at this time that my own teenagers met Avery and formed a friendship with her. Avery's kindness and resilience were apparent from the first moment we met her.

Avery's father became increasingly unstable and abusive, and Avery did her best to keep up appearances and her functioning at school, but eventually reported the abuse to a school counselor who contacted New Mexico's Child Youth and Families Department (child welfare services) who arranged temporary housing for her and then promptly closed her case - offering no other services, follow up or support.

At that time, I became involved in trying to get some safety, housing and support to Avery.

Avery was, through all of this chaos, able to graduate from high school with honors and a 4.3 grade point average and received her Catholic school's Founder's Award for the student who most exemplifies Franciscan values.

Avery is now attending the University of San Francisco, which is an excellent fit for her values and is also the school that offered her the most significant aid package. She has taken out the maximum federal loans that are available to her. She has received a generous Ignatius Merit Scholarship based on her excellent grades.

She is exploring work/study options that might be compatible with her rigorous STEM class schedule. She is a biology student who hopes to go onto graduate school to study neuroscience.

Despite her hard work, Avery is still without sufficient funds for her educational and life expenses for the next three years.

Listen: If all of us who love Avery had the means to simply pay all of uncovered expenses we would do so. None of us on Team Avery have sufficient funds among us to support her in the way we all believe she deserves.

Financial Projections to Graduation - The Next 2 Years

For academic year 2025-26 Avery’s current shortfall is around $8500, after food stamps, summer income, and fundraising.

Avery worked and saved over the summer, and is actively looking for work during the school year that is compatible with her study schedule.

For academic year 2026-27: Assuming she gets the same financial aid package for her senior year 2026-27 - we will again be negotiating a short fall of $15k for her final year of school.

I have adjusted the GFM fundraising goal down from $70,000 to $24,000 to reflect our current status at the half-way point!

Only $24,000 left to graduation - these funds will be directed toward school costs, room and board, insurance, medical expenses, transportation & psychotherapy.

We also hope to create a little financial cushion should emergencies arise. She has no other safety net than the one we are all cobbling together.

Thank you all for helping us get this far!

Our household is able to contribute $5000 a year and other GFM team members and generous supporters have made annual commitments as well.

There are several responsible adults available to Avery to support her in making prudent financial decisions (she is already very responsible with her savings, earnings and spending).

Please help us to help an amazing young woman, who has protected her heart through more losses and challenges than many people face in a lifetime, and who has a beautiful future in front of her with the encouragement of a supportive community.

We will post updates regularly to thank you all and to show you how we are applying your donations.

We can't thank you enough for any assistance you can offer, and please share with anyone you think may be moved to help!

Thank you so much from all of us on Team Avery: Martha, David, Catherine, Bre, & Logan,

and of course: Avery

PS: It is a priority for me, that Avery has a chance to be a regular college kid -with more than enough on her plate. So I'd like folks to understand that this is my ask, our ask, the mature adults' ask on this GFM team, the ask of those of us who have directly stepped in behind her in her mother's absence.

We are thankful to each of you

I am so grateful for you helping me to help her, and I am thrilled to watch her get a chance to thrive.

Blessings,

Martha