Emergency help: Unemployed & Broke
Donation protected
Hi, this is Roger Smith, one of the cofounders of TheChristianLeft.org. As many of you know, we are a shoestring organization (and sometimes even the shoestring is held together by a few knots!), we do our work on this voluntarily and only ever put out personal appeals when there is genuine need that we're personally unable to meet. In this case one of our admins, Mike George, is close to getting his head above water after a long struggle to find work, and is also diligent about finding ways to drastically reduce his living costs.
One of Mike's special passions is helping the homeless, but in this case just when he was about to get solid footing, a new job dropped out from under his feet (through false representation by an employer) and, unless he lands another job almost immediately, he is likely to face homelessness himself in the next couple of weeks. All of you know that this job market still isn't exactly swimming with jobs.
Mike has been as diligent about searching for work as he has about working for The Christian Left, helping others in need, and everything else; and as for unemployment benefits, even those had been drained during his job search. I myself was unemployed for a full fourteen months from 2011-2012, applying for sometimes dozens of jobs a day, and thank God I found work literally just as my last unemployment extension had run out ... so I know firsthand the desperate race against time to try to find work while money to live on is draining away.
For Mike's part, at the moment (27 Jan.) he has two interviews lined up that look very promising, so help may be around the corner ... but of course an actual paycheck would still be two or more weeks in coming. His extended family likewise struggles, and are unable to help him cross this last gap; his savings and credit have been tapped out in day-to-day survival. Mike has learned of a number of "intentional communities" in his hometown of Chicago, where rent is low and the members devote from their free time to help others in the community, the very thing Mike already does whenever he has a chance ... so he is looking for housing opportunities among those communities, and in that case everyone would win.
This is one more opportunity for The Christian Left community to demonstrate what it does so well, to support one another as we then find ways to keep paying that forward. Every cent of funds raised in this GoFundMe campaign (except for a very small percentage that GoFundMe automatically keeps for their operating costs) will go to help Mike bridge the gap and not find himself homeless just when he is about to reach solid ground. It is also an investment in an honest soul who wants to put his life even more into helping others less fortunate, and experiences like this have certainly given him that much more empathy.
This is what we do at The Christian Left ... put Jesus' love into action for one another. "Whatever you have done for even the least of these, you have done for me."
Thank you all and God bless you!
One of Mike's special passions is helping the homeless, but in this case just when he was about to get solid footing, a new job dropped out from under his feet (through false representation by an employer) and, unless he lands another job almost immediately, he is likely to face homelessness himself in the next couple of weeks. All of you know that this job market still isn't exactly swimming with jobs.
Mike has been as diligent about searching for work as he has about working for The Christian Left, helping others in need, and everything else; and as for unemployment benefits, even those had been drained during his job search. I myself was unemployed for a full fourteen months from 2011-2012, applying for sometimes dozens of jobs a day, and thank God I found work literally just as my last unemployment extension had run out ... so I know firsthand the desperate race against time to try to find work while money to live on is draining away.
For Mike's part, at the moment (27 Jan.) he has two interviews lined up that look very promising, so help may be around the corner ... but of course an actual paycheck would still be two or more weeks in coming. His extended family likewise struggles, and are unable to help him cross this last gap; his savings and credit have been tapped out in day-to-day survival. Mike has learned of a number of "intentional communities" in his hometown of Chicago, where rent is low and the members devote from their free time to help others in the community, the very thing Mike already does whenever he has a chance ... so he is looking for housing opportunities among those communities, and in that case everyone would win.
This is one more opportunity for The Christian Left community to demonstrate what it does so well, to support one another as we then find ways to keep paying that forward. Every cent of funds raised in this GoFundMe campaign (except for a very small percentage that GoFundMe automatically keeps for their operating costs) will go to help Mike bridge the gap and not find himself homeless just when he is about to reach solid ground. It is also an investment in an honest soul who wants to put his life even more into helping others less fortunate, and experiences like this have certainly given him that much more empathy.
This is what we do at The Christian Left ... put Jesus' love into action for one another. "Whatever you have done for even the least of these, you have done for me."
Thank you all and God bless you!
Organizer
Mike George
Organizer
Philadelphia, PA
