Iris & Kenzie getting started

In 2015, while teaching at Bassick High School in Bridgeport, Connecticut, I had a student named Iris who had an aptitude for audio engineering. We formed a bond, and she quickly advanced to being the student in charge of the studio. Her grades began to improve, her attendance was steady, and she was on a path to graduation.  Unfortunately at the end of that year, my job was budget-cut away and I left Bridgeport. Iris told me later that she had no teachers there who understood her anymore, so she stopped going to school. Over the next two years, Iris found odd jobs working construction and landscaping, as well as some under-the-table nightclub security in some pretty high-risk environments.  


In 2017, when Iris was 17, she came out as a lesbian to her mother.  A short time later, without warning or explanation, her mother threw her out of the house at midnight with her pet chihuahua and the clothes on her back, barely a month after her 18th birthday.  


Iris spent the summer and fall of 2018 alternately sleeping on the street and sleeping at her girlfriend Kenzie’s house. That all changed when Kenzie’s father got out of prison.  He refused to believe that his daughter could possibly be a lesbian, so he threw Iris out, just as the weather was turning cold in Bridgeport.  


With no home, no food, no work, and a canine companion to care for, Iris was close to giving up. Kenzie suggested that she contact me, “That crazy music teacher you talk about.  Maybe he can help.”


That’s when Iris reached out to me on Facebook.  At first, I was trying to help her from a distance, getting her connected with Bridgeport city resources, 211, and food bank assistance. Whenever I could afford it, I would order her takeout and have it delivered to Kenzie’s house, where Kenzie would get it to Iris.  What I didn’t realize is, for the last three weeks of this, that takeout was her only food.  The wait list to get into semi-permanent housing was up to a year. For a vulnerable LGBTQ woman, food banks and overnight shelters are threatening places that don’t accept dogs, and are full of homeless men who are off their meds.  After a few run-ins with inappropriate men, and attempted robberies, she felt it was safer to sleep on the street. At this point, I realized she needed more help than I could provide from a distance. 


After much thought, I invited Iris to live with me, to get her off the street before the winter began in earnest.  Six months ago, she moved in. Two months later, Kenzie’s father kicked her out (spoiler alert: she really is a lesbian) and she came to live with us.


FAST FORWARD six months to today: The life-threatening medical crisis Iris was unknowingly in has been treated successfully, her undiagnosed vision issues have been corrected with glasses, and the PTSD from her devastating childhood trauma is being treated. She has completed the training to get her Connecticut Guard certification, and she already has steady work with two security firms.  Last month, she and Kenzie began studying to take the GED, and Kenzie has found full-time employment in a local business.  


Here comes the part where we ask for your help:  Iris and Kenzie have found a small apartment that is within their monthly budget, and they are ready to stand up on their own.  They are both working hard, but the burden of finding the money to make their first-last-security for their new digs is heavy.  They have almost nothing but each other, and a will to work hard.  They are asking for $3000 to help them get into their new place, and to cover moving and startup expenses.  I have helped them as much as I am able, and now I’m asking for help from you.

Please, if there is anything you can afford to help these two hard-working young people get started, please donate.