Keep Our Loving Brother Safe And Housed

This week the Sherrif's Office in New Orleans put a notice of seizure on the front door of my brother's house. We need to quickly raise between $18,000 - $25,000 to pay for legal fees and get his house out of foreclosure so he has a safe place to land when his nightmare is over.

Please support my little brother, David . This kind, loving artist has been jailed for 7 months, and is in danger of losing his home -- all because he was suffering from a mental health crisis and we (his sisters) asked the Louisiana authorities to help us keep him safe but they decided to punish him for having mental illness instead.

Flash back 20 years -- in January of 2006 my family finally found my little brother, David. He had been missing for several months after fleeing New Orleans to escape Hurricane Katrina. It turned out he experienced a mental crisis in the wake of that traumatic storm, had begun seeing visions and ended up confused and unable to even remember his parent's home phone number.

My family mobilized, got him out of a difficult situation and brought him home.

What followed has been 20 years of us figuring out how to support our sweet, artistic youngest sibling as he survives living with a mental health disorder.

Then, in January of 2025 my younger brother was arrested by the police. Why? Because my sister's and I had gone to the police and ASKED them to take him into protective custody. We asked for help. Our brother was very far gone in a manic episode, hadn't slept for days, and was a danger to himself and others. We called the police because in the state of Louisiana there are no other services to call when a loved one is having a mental health crisis.

When the police arrived, instead of giving David the help we requested, the state of Louisiana jailed my brother, bull dozed part of his house, fork-lifted and damaged his car, ransacked his home and confiscated some of his property. Now they have held him for 7 months on a bail of almost $200,000 dollars which we have no hope of paying.

David calls us collect every day. He’s lonely and sad, and experiencing health problems, but trying to keep his spirits up. He wants to know all the news from his nieces and nephews. He reads anything he can get his hands on.

While in jail, David has been unable to work or pay bills. His house, which he brought and maintained as an owner for over a decade is now in danger of being foreclosed on. My parents are in their eighties and suffering from poor health. My eldest sister is now living with them as a fulltime caretaker. It has fallen to us three sisters to try and shoulder both elder care and also try to help my brother with legal fees. If we cannot make these back payments on his house, which when rented out can pay for itself, it may no longer be there when he gets out. Our biggest fear is that without a home my brother will become another person talking to himself on street corners.

This does not need to happen. His case is looking good but the trial date will come too late for my brother to save his house without your help. Will you chip into help keep a vulnerable and valuable member of my family housed?