Indigo's Financial Aid Fund

Heya there. My name's Indigo De Castro. If you aren't someone who knows me, then a quick rundown of who I am would be: I'm an aspiring artist and EDM fanatic who has worked full time for years both in and out of the music scene (some of you may know me as the "It's pizza time " person). I currently live in Los Angeles, and have for basically the entirety of my life. I've worked hard to continue living here and put effort towards the passions that I have which include making music, running a small record label, and just being present in the EDM scene as a whole. Apart from that, I'm not a particularly interesting individual. More simply put, I don't know what else I should be writing about myself in something like this.

So why is this here? Well the short answer would be that these last 5 months have been nothing short of traumatic for me, both mentally and financially. I would argue that this has been probably the biggest and most crushing string of bad luck that I've had in my life. If you wish to skip the incredibly long explanation and cut right to the chase, I don't blame you.

On December 16th, 2024 I was in a major car accident, leaving my car totaled. This is where things started taking a turn for the worse for me. While neither I nor anyone else was physically harmed, I found out that I and my vehicle had been uninsured. The insurance had expired less than 48 hours prior and was a plan that would not automatically renew, and I had missed the notifications regarding that fact. Either way, the damage was irreparable. Despite the engine functioning, no mechanic wanted to fix, it would cost more than the car itself. So I was simply out of a car. The impact this had on my life wasn't small. I had just moved up to the Encino area the month prior, meaning I had just dropped a good chunk of change on rent and deposit, leaving me with not enough funds to get another car. While I'm very pro public transportation, my primary job and main source of income (being an intake coordinator at a mental health clinic) was all the way in Boyle Heights. This was a roughly 25 mile drive each way. Busses and trains would take about 1h45min each way, and while that wasn't an issue, the hours that I worked didn't allow for any available busses back home when I needed them. Without the car, I had to cut down on my shifts. A few months later, I ended up losing my position there. The shocking thing is that it wasn't even for my lesser accepted shifts, but rather a rule in my contract that I had to work one major and minor holiday, one that I personally didn't know about. Despite having worked more shifts than required of me in 2024, I hadn't worked holidays, so I lost the job (I had signed the contract, so I couldn't fight it, despite explaining my situation). At that point, I had expended most of my savings via various required channels, including rent and such. I ended up having to ask my family for money. I hate asking people for money if I know that I won't be able to pay it back promptly. They were kind enough to provide me with enough to get a car sorted, which leads us into late March and April. I had been scouring everywhere I could for both work, but was also prioritizing a car, as that would give me the ability to work somewhere further away. I managed to find a listing for a old Camry Solara, and made plans to look at it. To cut this part of the story short, I ended up being sold a car that had issues preventing it from being roadworthy and am now having to sue the seller in small claims court. This was basically the last nail in the coffin for me financially. I had now spent the remainder of what I had on a car that I couldn't use, and my stress and anxiety is now at an all-time high.

Due to all of these things and some others compounding, I'm now at the last possible option, which is asking people to help me financially through all this. Like I said before, I despise asking someone for money knowing full well I can't pay them back quickly if at all. However, I'm now in a place where there are no alternatives. So I will at the very least be openly transparent as to what I will be doing with these funds. I am asking for $10,000 (I don't know why GoFundMe sets a lower milestone first, but know that if the goal goes up, it's not me changing it) and the funds will split among a few different things. The first being the vehicle itself. As much as I'm sure that my case is strong enough to be refunded the money I paid for the car, it's not fully guaranteed. Not to mention, the time to get a court date is anywhere from 20 to 70 days after submitting your case, and I need to be able to work and commute long before then, meaning I have to just hope that I get reimbursed for any repairs to the car. The next thing would just be general expenses. Whether it be groceries, utilities, rent, or anything else, I currently don't have the funds to pay for any of it. I need only enough to keep me fed and sheltered until I have a new primary source of income. Anything else would first be saved for legal fees. While small claims cases don't require a legal team and are quite inexpensive, I can confidently say that the seller will most likely attempt to launch a suit or countersuit themselves. If it happens to not be needed, then the remaining funds would be returning to my family for their help (as we've never exactly been on the affluent side of things). If there is more than what I owe them, then I'd like to offer refunds to people who donated. I'm not sure if anything can be refunded through this though, so if that's the case, then I'll simply have to ask everyone to vote on a charity and give the rest to them. Those are my plans.

If you've read this far, then I appreciate you dearly. I apologize if my tone or phrasing seems off here. I have never had to do anything like this before, and my anxiety is still going crazy while writing this. Thank you for reading through all this. Please, if you intend to donate, please don't give me more than you're comfortable giving. Whether you choose to donate, or just share the link, I can't thank you enough for your support.

-Indi