Helping me with re-establishing my career

I am fundraising for myself because I have three children to support and I am experiencing incredible poverty due to some very unjust circumstances. 

I am requesting help for the amount of $6000 so that I can pay off my student loans. It is a complex scenario. The loans are in RAP Stage 2 which means the government is slowly paying them off at about $500/year. The stipulation is I am not permitted to apply for new loans until the old loan is paid in full. I have appealed the decision without success.  

Previous to the children, I was a municipal water operator. I ran a water treatment plant, water distribution system, wastewater collections system, and wastewater treatment system. The job requires rotational on-call emergency response. By law, I was required to respond to emergencies before attending to my family. As a single mom with three young children, I can not meet the expectations of employment. 

I have re enrolled in university. I am entering my 4th year of studies. I have one academic year to go before I am awarded both a diploma in Restoration of Natural Systems and a BSc in Biology. My gpa is 7.0 on a 9 point scale. That is an A- average. The picture is me in field school a few years ago. I have been working on my degree one class at a time for a long time. 

The children and I are living on my child tax credit only. Believe it or not, I am meeting all of our rent and groceries on child tax credit. We rely heavily on food donations, grocery cards, the food recovery wagon, and every other resource the Town of Canmore has offered us. 

I was running a local small business, but COVID made it a challenge. As a single mom, my childcare costs for attending the local farmers markets were greater than my gross sales (because of covid). I was then accepted into subsidized housing which does not permit home based businesses. 

I have been searching for grants and scholarships but the majority of them are tied to government student loans. I am ineligible for them as I can not get a new student loan. I was striving for academic scholarships with my GPA, however I am required to have 6 courses completed before I am eligible. I have completed 3 and I am starting 3 this month. 

I am asking for $6000 so I can pay off my loan and reapply for new loans. If I am approved, I will be able to  1) get through this semester and 2) be eligible for a plethora of new scholarships and bursaries through both the government and the University of Victoria, where Im studying online.

My long term plan is to become a consultant for municipalities for their water systems. It is a 9-5 mon-fri position. I am currently a certified operator. I will become a registered biologist. I will consult for municipalities on how the changing environment will impact the water utility system and vice versa. When I was employed by a municipality, I was put on special projects of this nature. I developed a source control program designed to prevent excess and targeted wastes and pollutants from entering the wastewater collections and treatment systems. Within 6 months, my employer saw results in my lab samples. 

If you have a few dollars to spare in this tight economy, the children and I would really appreciate it.