Hey there friends,

For those of you who do not know me, my name is John David Levy. I am a Bay Area native, filmmaker and photographer who lost my home of 23 years and two of my jobs during the pandemic. While being homeless I have managed to work as a freelancer, but recently had a medical emergency that is going to be at the center of my life for at least the next 6 months. And two months I'm missing of being able to work while I recover has put a severe dent in my already dismantled life.

The last thing I wanted to do was a GoFund. But I finally reached a level where I really need to ask for a tourniquet instead of band-aids. This is not a scratch. While I have managed most of the year in homelessness to do excellent work, though gigs are few and far between, any momentum has been lost since my current health issue arose. My original one-week stay was for Diverticulitis. The infection was drained and I was on the mend. I missed some work, but thanks to a few friends that small amount of money was easily made up. About a week into healing I began doing some light work, filming a documentary short over at Marin MOCA, but soon started feeling horrible pain in another part of my abdomen. I never got a fever, but it was clear within a few days it was serious. I could barely walk. Everything hurt. Went into the emergency room again and discovered I had a massive abscess. I immediately went into surgery for a Laparoscopic Colostomy. For the next 6 months, I have to heal internally and maintain a colostomy bag over my exposed intestine on the outside of my belly and eventually return to have my colon put back together. And then we start looking for cancer. Until then I have to stay housed in a safe and clean environment and rebuild my strength. I lost about 20 lbs in the hospital and am malnourished. I have to consume a lot of specific foods in my initial recovery that I don’t have the budget for while not working.

I was in the hospital for two weeks. I am in my second week of post-hospital recovery and have about another 4 weeks to go before I can get back to work in the field. I’m trying to bring in any remote editing work I can, but now I have COVID and will likely not be in any shape for even that for at least another week or 10 days to even do remote work. My website is down, which makes it hard to book out any gigs in advance. And I have to move on from the place I am staying in 10 days (October 6). And I am now especially in no condition to prepare for migration. For the last month I have been living on the few hundred dollars from my last gig, the small pledges I get from my Patreon and I’m now down to my last $50, I have a phone bill due, need medical supplies not covered by my insurance, train fair, and groceries/food for the next month.

The only upside of homelessness is I don’t need to raise the rent, I just need to stay alive. I just need enough money to get me through my initial recovery until I can get back to work. I REALLY want to get back to work.

The funds will be used to offset the damage already done and for the next month and a half;

• Medical supplies not covered by my insurance (ostomy supplies, over-the-counter medicines and supplements.

• Groceries; I have specific dietary needs as well as basic ones. Food, Toilet paper, etc.

• Transportation: I don't drive and am homeless, so I need to be able to get myself, my luggage and work materials to and from places I am staying and when I eventually get back to work; train, uber, lyft.

• Maintaining work materials and services: Gear maintenance, also my website is down, which is impacting gig bookings and my creative licenses need to stay up to date.

• Accommodations; Being homeless I have been fortunate to stay with friends thus far. And while I have plenty to offer in trade, I fully expect to need to make financial contributions here and there to anyone who puts me up. Hopefully, I will be back working before that needs to happen.

There is damage from the initial month I missed work and another month of recovery and then getting back to work. All this adds up very fast and I am not sure if my goal is high enough, I've never been through this before. But I think where your help ends I can take it from there.

If you don’t know me, let me just say I have a clean record. I am not a junkie, alcoholic, or gambler. I’m just an independent creative whose world got leveled by the pandemic and am up against some heavy health issues. Even in these difficult times, I love being alive. I love making art for myself and other people. And I just want to get through this and get back to a modest yet healthy creative life.

I know a lot of people are going through a difficult time right now. Any and all support is deeply appreciated.

Much love.