Help Jamie Guerin With Medical and Family Needs

WARNING!!!! Do not to donate directly to anyone who messages or emails you. Please donate through the GoFundMe directly or only or follow the directions about mailing a check to the special needs trust, because a scammer pretending to be a friend has been trying to get donations this way!! See one of the recent updates below for more information.

Jamie Guerin has been an asset to the community for many years. Always volunteering and donating her time when she is physically able to... Helping neighbors, and people who are more vulnerable than she is as she understands the struggle. She lives the struggle and has been for nearly 20 years when she first developed a debilitating chronic illness that caused her to close down her business and leave school where she was attending Mount Holyoke College as a Frances Perkins Scholar after being accepted early into the program from Springfield Technical Community College, while working side jobs to support her first born child at the time as a single mother.

As a chronically ill mother, she raised 5 children. 3 of whom are not biologically hers, but she raised them as her own to keep the siblings together and from being separated in the foster care system despite not having adequate resources because she said "What choice did I have? To fail these beautiful children".

Jamie is struggling a lot with her disability, new debilitating diagnosis, and the new onset of a chronic illness in her youngest son. Her car, which she depended on for medical appointments (several trips a month back and forth to Boston) and for the care of the two children still in the home was totaled in April 2024 in a no fault of her own accident and she did not receive enough to repair or replace the vehicle. (UPDATE: now 3 children in the home as she, right before the holidays, took in another child with medical needs of a neighbor whose family was evicted to save him from being taken by the state and put into group homes. She provided him a wonderful Christmas with the help of the greater community)

Jamie also has an upcoming surgery, which could be up to $4000 out of pocket and a lot of out of pocket medical expenses. One Specialist estimates that she needs around $400 per month in electrolyte supplements for one of her illnesses. One prescription she relies on daily has to be specially compounded and is not covered by insurance. There are also multiple treatment options available to her that are also not covered by insurance that she just cannot afford to begin although they seem very promising in helping her on her healing journey to make her life a little more bearable. After paying all the basic bills, she has less than $100 per month for All of the other basic necessities in life not including any of the above mentioned medical expenses. and is drowning in credit card debt to keep her family afloat. She was also expecting her first grandchild in December, but the baby came a month early and she would like to have the ability to do more to help the young (exhausted) mother.

Unfortunately, due to disability laws, Jamie is unable to save or possess over $2000 as an individual and does not qualify for loans as her income is too low, making it impossible to save up for surgeries, another car, and other necessities. So a special needs trust was set up for her to get around this obstacle and this trust relies on donations. An opportunity came up to purchase a very reliable vehicle from a friend who needs to sell it very soon for the out of pocket expenses for her elderly parents. A car of this age, milage (44,000 miles) in pristine condition would be sold to her for a price that is unheard of in today's market and she needs to raise another $8000- $10,000 in the trust by the end of January to purchase this vehicle, which would also get her out of transportation instability by allowing her to have a car that has actual value instead of another money pit that is not dependable and has no value if something were to happen to it.

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We are humbly asking the community to help contribute to the trust for the car, the surgery, the out of pocket medical expenses, and/or become monthly donors to the trust. Just a little can go a long way and is greatly appreciated. If you do not wish to use GoFundMe, you can send a check to the trustee:

Laura Josephs

7 Conway Dr. Floor 2

Greenfield, MA 01301

written out to the

Jamie M. Guerin Special Needs Trust

Jamie would like to express her gratitude and thanks to everyone who has helped and along the way and to future donors as well. She understands that we are all financially struggling and appreciates your help and support beyond what words can describe.

Our success is interconnected... let's help to raise up this wonderful person who has been doing the same for others for most of her life :)