After my first Maker Rig and open source regenerative living space conversion on wheels (TheMagicToolBus ), I've been working on another. This time? I'm doing it solo as a rare woman in the conversion and radical maker community.
The Short:
Tl;dr: She needs essential mechanical work I can't afford. If I get help, this project will tangibly, immediately improve and impact a large community. Spreading information and resources about off-grid, inclusive maker and regenerative infrastructure projects, and a whole lot more. This is not a dream, it's real, and I have the experience to do it.
The Long (and oh so interesting!):
She's a unicorn of a vehicle, a rare find I know about as a deep conversion nerd. While she looks like an ambulance she's actually not. She's a retired Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicle or ERV. These are larger then ambos, retired in better condition, and had different purpose. She was built to rush across a state full of care workers and boxes of supplies, responding to disaster situations in rapid time. She has a large sliding window to hand food and medical supplies out of. She has barn doors in the back to load large things in and out. She has (relatively) comfortable seating. And finally, she has a tall (6' 1") fairly empty custom aluminum box on a turbo diesel Ford E-450 van chassis. Incredible for a second life as a converted Maker vehicle, absolutely optimum for what I need to do.
She will be a portable, radical platform for my work running several important maker activist projects and inspiring people in a much wider, larger space to understand the power of off grid regenerative infrastructure, inclusion, maker projects and community.
She needs help. I recently found her weaknesses after having her for a few years (she is from 2006 after all). She needs a bank of fuel injectors changed, and her EGR cooler is stuck open. To afford this incredibly intensive work and upgrade a few other needed parts, the grand total will be an estimated $6.5K (I tacked on $500 for breathing room, and to jumpstart my solar array next if we are lucky). This news came unexpectedly, very recently.
To cover this by myself will take out a large chunk of my small savings, leaving me to take years to complete the solar array I was about to install on the roof and the internal box work I've designed in order to use her as she is intended.
In case you aren't familiar with my work, here's just a bit. I run a popular electronics camp for femmes and queers (There U Glow ), teach on a grassroots level about off-grid solar and radio mesh networking (resources available on my Patreon ), design and widely distribute lasercut activist projects (My mutual aid shop ), and a whole lot more.
I am currently paid very minimally, not even rent, for any of that work. I pivoted careers into tech a few years back and now can't find a job, generally, and specifically not one that allows space for all of this, even part time.
I'll figure it out, but I need time. To keep moving on these projects, not let them flounder and stagnate.
You can make a huge difference there. Thank you, enormously, for considering it.
To subvert GoFundMe fees, you can support me directly through:
Venmo: (at)Claire-Cassidy-2
CashApp: $ClaireDCassidy
Paypal: clacassidy(@)gmail.com
✨Sliding Scale Guidelines:✨
If you are unsure of how much to contribute, PLEASE don't feel undue guilt and pressure. There's more then enough of that flying around right now. To mitigate stress, feel free to review the sliding scale below for some guidelines on where you may fit into this fundraising:
IF YOU:
- Frequently stress about meeting basic needs and don’t always achieve them
- Have debt that sometimes prevents you from meeting basic needs
- Rent lower-end or have unstable housing
- Do not have a car or have limited access
- Are unemployed or underemployed
- Qualify for government assistance
- Have no access to savings
- Rarely buy new
- Cannot afford vacation or time off
PLEASE DO NOT FEEL ANY PRESSURE TO GIVE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IF YOU:
- Stress about meeting your basic needs but still meet them
- Have debt but it does not prohibit attainment of basic needs
- Own or lease a car
- Are employed
- Have access to healthcare
- Have some expendable income
- Are able to buy new and still thrift
- Can take vacations and time off annually or every few years
PLEASE ONLY GIVE IF IT FEELS COMFORTABLE, IN A COMFORTABLE AMOUNT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IF YOU:
- Can comfortably meet all of your basic needs and assist your loved ones
- Have some debt but it is not a large stress
- Own property or rent higher-end
- Own or lease a car
- Are employed or do not need to work to meet your needs
- Have access to savings that brings security
- Have expendable income (might mean you can afford coffee or drinks, go to moves or concerts, buy new clothes, books, etc regularly)
- Can take vacations and time off regularly
PLEASE CONSIDER GIVING GENEROUSLY TO OFFSET OTHERS, AND TO MAKE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON THE SUCCESS OF THIS CAMPAIGN AND ME
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Sliding scale and full credit from here.