Jenay’s Legal Defense & Education Fund

My name is Jenay, and I’m asking for your donations to help me start my life over.

As far back as I can remember, my family life was horrible. My mother is a meth addict who physically and emotionally abused my younger siblings and me. Her drug addiction caused her to sell her body for drug money. Eventually, we had no food, heat or hot water.

When I was 8 years old, my mother decided I should “work” to get money for the family. I spent years selling myself and putting my “salary” in my mother’s wallet.

When I was 15, I was raped by a Harrisburg dentist named Michael Damgaard. The depth of his sadism was beyond description and inappropriate to describe here. He was arrested, but the court case has languished in the Snyder County Court system for over a year.

When I was 16, my life changed when a Harris’ Hawk flew into our barn. I knew a falconer lived just a few miles away, I contacted him, and Mike came to our house to get his Hawk. When he realized how much I knew about nature and animals, he offered me a job at his farm with his wife, Christine.

When I started working for Mike and Christine, I realized what it meant to be appreciated and cared for - emotions that I had rarely experienced in my life. With their support, I found the courage to leave the dysfunctional existence with my mother and move to Mike and Christine's farm.

Within a week of living at the farm, my mother called State Troopers, alleging Mike and Christine had abducted me. When the Troopers came to the farm to bring me back to my mother's house, I knew the only way to stay in my new, stable life was to inform them that my mother and my younger siblings were living with a drug dealer, growing marijuana and cooking Meth. My mother was arrested, and my siblings were removed from the house.

Although I was torn about reporting my mother, my courage to do it showed me I was beginning to find my moral compass, and I was going to change my life.

During the past year and a half, I have committed to finishing High School and going to college - goals that were entirely out of my reach in my old life. Mike and Christine helped me get my birth certificate and social security card (items my mother refused to give me when I left), and we will get my driver's license soon. I am taking the medication I need (which my mother withheld from me) and getting help with my PTSD and trauma. We have taken family trips to Maryland and even drove to Florida!

Your generous donations will be placed in a trust fund and be used for my college education and any residual legal expenses. I will have access to the fund when I turn 30. I want to attend Bucknell University (hopefully with a scholarship) and take pre-law classes.

For the first time in my life, I see possibilities. I am determined to create the life I want and deserve despite the trauma I have been subjected to.