Homeless Veteran Needs Temporary Assistance
Donation protected
Hello,
My name is Thomas, I’m 53 years old, and I have become something that I never dreamed I'd one day become: homeless. It is important to me that you understand that my asking others for financial charity is a very difficult thing for me to do.
My goal is to raise $2,000 to put toward placing a roof over my head for 60 days via a hotel/motel, and for this, I ask for your help. I have a job. I am the managing editor for a Southern California-based monthly magazine . This is a part-time position so it does not bring with it full-time pay.
The predicament I find myself in today is a fairly-recent development. Entering 2020, I was renting a room at a private residence and had two jobs, both remote: the magazine I now manage, where I began as a writer in December 2018; and, as a work-from-home, business-to-business appointment-setter for an advertising salesperson at a separate publication.
By early May, the well was running COVID low and too many of the businesses still conducting business were not interested in setting an appointment to purchase an ad buy. Beginning in April, the number of appointments I set plummeted, and by mid-May the boss had to cut me loose, understandably.
I was able to land a writing position with a new magazine within a few weeks. First, a few assignments came my way, and then a few more in June. The number of writing assignments grew each successive month, and by August I was offered and accepted additional opportunities beyond writing (managing, consulting/planning, advertising related), that my invoice for September’s services rendered would equal about 50 percent of the monthly income I had earned from the appointment-setting job I lost in May.
I was halfway there when the wheels fell off. The home where I rented a room had recently sold and the new owners chose not to sublet a room. Since early September, I have been staying in motels here and there, off and on, when I can afford it. A family member paid for several days on a few occasions here and there through mid-October, but she is no longer able to do so.
In between motel stays, I have been living and sleeping in my car, which I probably don’t need to tell you is not safe where I’m at – Las Vegas. This is a very dangerous town. (I relocated here from Los Angeles County in February 2019.)
Sleeping in one’s car in Las Vegas means sleeping with one eye open. On many a night I had to drive away from where I parked to search out a new location after noticing bad characters taking a special interest in me and my property inside my car.
Those days I lived and slept in a car prevented me from working since I owned a desktop computer – a completely useless piece of equipment without access to electricity since it does not have its own rechargeable battery. This lifestyle placed me in jeopardy of losing both of my jobs.
I fell so far behind on meeting my September responsibilities for the publication that began giving me work in late May that they had no choice but to no longer retain my services. I was let go at the end of September having fulfilled a fraction of that month’s obligations, placing the publication in awful bind. Earning a fraction of that month’s anticipated income really put the financial hurt on me.
Fortunately, the publisher that pays me to be her managing editor stuck with me. In October, she farmed out to third parties, at a significant cost in both her time and money, most all of the work that she pays me to do. And I was still paid my October salary in full. And then my publisher solved my desktop problem. After a discussion with an associate that repairs computers, on November 3, I picked up a laptop computer at a UPS store after it had been sent overnight.
My goal is to receive donations sufficient to pay for a hotel room through the end of the year. A roof over my head uninterrupted for this short period provides three things: personal safety and property security; reliable, 24-hour access to electricity so I can, without worrying about what tomorrow may bring, meet my professional obligations; and, arguably most importantly, it provides an environment conducive to each day consistently dedicate time in search of additional employment and submit my resume’ and concomitant cover letters to job openings. I am confident in my ability to, by the end of this year, find more work just as I have done in the past, and build an income sufficient to provide for myself without asking for assistance from others.
I am eligible for placement in a VA group home but my VA social worker believes that my sharing a room with another veteran in a home with more vets occupying other rooms – a house full of down-and-out-on-their-luck veterans, possibly several with mental-health challenges – is not a good arrangement for someone with a work-from-home job and who is also actively searching for more work, like myself.
My VA social worker said, and I agree, that it would be unreasonable for me to expect/require the other residents to keep the noise down while I’m working, which includes speaking to and interviewing people by phone. She was worried also about my ability to keep my work-related property – computer, etc. – secure and not pilfered in a VA group-home setting.
To you, those kind and generous souls contributing to my fund, helping me reach my goal of $2,000 , I struggle with finding the right words to describe my gratitude. So, I will say, heartfelt and simply, “Thank you.”
Thomas
I’d Rather Work and Earn Money Than Have It Given to Me for Free
If you would like to help and prefer that I earn it, and are in need of writing, copy editing, or proofreading services (website, business pamphlets, etc.) let’s talk about how we can make that happen.
My name is Thomas, I’m 53 years old, and I have become something that I never dreamed I'd one day become: homeless. It is important to me that you understand that my asking others for financial charity is a very difficult thing for me to do.
My goal is to raise $2,000 to put toward placing a roof over my head for 60 days via a hotel/motel, and for this, I ask for your help. I have a job. I am the managing editor for a Southern California-based monthly magazine . This is a part-time position so it does not bring with it full-time pay.
The predicament I find myself in today is a fairly-recent development. Entering 2020, I was renting a room at a private residence and had two jobs, both remote: the magazine I now manage, where I began as a writer in December 2018; and, as a work-from-home, business-to-business appointment-setter for an advertising salesperson at a separate publication.
By early May, the well was running COVID low and too many of the businesses still conducting business were not interested in setting an appointment to purchase an ad buy. Beginning in April, the number of appointments I set plummeted, and by mid-May the boss had to cut me loose, understandably.
I was able to land a writing position with a new magazine within a few weeks. First, a few assignments came my way, and then a few more in June. The number of writing assignments grew each successive month, and by August I was offered and accepted additional opportunities beyond writing (managing, consulting/planning, advertising related), that my invoice for September’s services rendered would equal about 50 percent of the monthly income I had earned from the appointment-setting job I lost in May.
I was halfway there when the wheels fell off. The home where I rented a room had recently sold and the new owners chose not to sublet a room. Since early September, I have been staying in motels here and there, off and on, when I can afford it. A family member paid for several days on a few occasions here and there through mid-October, but she is no longer able to do so.
In between motel stays, I have been living and sleeping in my car, which I probably don’t need to tell you is not safe where I’m at – Las Vegas. This is a very dangerous town. (I relocated here from Los Angeles County in February 2019.)
Sleeping in one’s car in Las Vegas means sleeping with one eye open. On many a night I had to drive away from where I parked to search out a new location after noticing bad characters taking a special interest in me and my property inside my car.
Those days I lived and slept in a car prevented me from working since I owned a desktop computer – a completely useless piece of equipment without access to electricity since it does not have its own rechargeable battery. This lifestyle placed me in jeopardy of losing both of my jobs.
I fell so far behind on meeting my September responsibilities for the publication that began giving me work in late May that they had no choice but to no longer retain my services. I was let go at the end of September having fulfilled a fraction of that month’s obligations, placing the publication in awful bind. Earning a fraction of that month’s anticipated income really put the financial hurt on me.
Fortunately, the publisher that pays me to be her managing editor stuck with me. In October, she farmed out to third parties, at a significant cost in both her time and money, most all of the work that she pays me to do. And I was still paid my October salary in full. And then my publisher solved my desktop problem. After a discussion with an associate that repairs computers, on November 3, I picked up a laptop computer at a UPS store after it had been sent overnight.
My goal is to receive donations sufficient to pay for a hotel room through the end of the year. A roof over my head uninterrupted for this short period provides three things: personal safety and property security; reliable, 24-hour access to electricity so I can, without worrying about what tomorrow may bring, meet my professional obligations; and, arguably most importantly, it provides an environment conducive to each day consistently dedicate time in search of additional employment and submit my resume’ and concomitant cover letters to job openings. I am confident in my ability to, by the end of this year, find more work just as I have done in the past, and build an income sufficient to provide for myself without asking for assistance from others.
I am eligible for placement in a VA group home but my VA social worker believes that my sharing a room with another veteran in a home with more vets occupying other rooms – a house full of down-and-out-on-their-luck veterans, possibly several with mental-health challenges – is not a good arrangement for someone with a work-from-home job and who is also actively searching for more work, like myself.
My VA social worker said, and I agree, that it would be unreasonable for me to expect/require the other residents to keep the noise down while I’m working, which includes speaking to and interviewing people by phone. She was worried also about my ability to keep my work-related property – computer, etc. – secure and not pilfered in a VA group-home setting.
To you, those kind and generous souls contributing to my fund, helping me reach my goal of $2,000 , I struggle with finding the right words to describe my gratitude. So, I will say, heartfelt and simply, “Thank you.”
Thomas
I’d Rather Work and Earn Money Than Have It Given to Me for Free
If you would like to help and prefer that I earn it, and are in need of writing, copy editing, or proofreading services (website, business pamphlets, etc.) let’s talk about how we can make that happen.
Organizer
Thomas Thomas
Organizer
Las Vegas, NV