Hi My name is Curtisha Holden. I am a 31yr old single mother of 5 children. I have Twin girls who are 12yrs old, Twin boys who are 9yrs old, and a 7yr old girl who’s twin I lost during pregnancy. I currently reside in the laurel district of Oakland, CA. I am reaching out to my community members in hopes that someone can find it in their heart to help me and my babies. We are in need of relocation expenses and furniture for our new home I am set to move into on the first of September. I have already found a place and heres our story :

I have a 7yr old daughter whos name is Madani, Shes currently in remission from her 2nd brain cancer. She was first diagnosed with MEDULLOBLASTOMA in June of 2017. She underwent a 15 hour surgery to remove the tumor from her brain. Shortly after that she began chemotherapy. As a single mother of 5 this sudden medical emergency for my baby girl put a big big strain on me and my children. Having to be at the hospital everyday for her I found it hard to make money, to pay rent, to find a baby sitter for my other children while I was at the hospital, and to just cover the basic needs for my babies such as food. While my world was crumbling around me I had a baby girl who’s life depended on me staying strong and being there for her no matter what. During her battle at 3 she remained positive, vibrant, and eager to get back to her life. NO MATTER WHAT CHEMO THREW AT HER. She was definitely my SUPERHERO.

Madani went into remission Several months after she was diagnosed. As Madani came home and we began to get back to normalcy, her life was great despite the affects chemotherapy had on her body. In July 2019 I was informed after a routine MRI that her tumor had grown back and that she would be going into Surgery the next day. She was again faced with another battle of Chemotherapy and if that wasn’t enough my

car broke down a week later.

i was struggling to even pay for bus fair just to go back and forth between the hospital and home. I HAD TO STAY STRONG!!! I had a sick daughter who needed my prayers, strength, hugs, and kisses, and needed my presence to be felt so despite my mountain hill of problems, despite me having 4 other babies at home and little to no help or money I put my best smile on and kept her worry free because her life depended on it. She is such a strong girl. She went into remission again a few months later and was back her beautiful self. Well here we are in 2021. This PANDEMIC was hard on everyone. My daughter was doing so well in March of 2020 that I decided I would transfer my housing voucher to Las Vegas and just start over. I had a little family support down there and we discussed it so I knew it would go well. As soon as I packed my babies up and got down there COVID-19 HIT. It shut the Section 8 office down in Las Vegas NV and abruptly stopped my moving transfer from the Bay Area. Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority closed their doors and refused to assist a lot of families even through contactless methods. That left me and my babies homeless in LAS VEGAS. Despite my numerous weekly calls to the Section 8 office in Las Vegas explaining my situation, and my daughters condition they still refused to respond. The pandemic left us homeless from March-September 2020 in a big new place. I struggled to pay for rooms doing whatever I could as I did not and could not stand to look my babies in the face knowing I had failed them. A few times we were forced to sleep in the car due to rooms being to high or some other technical complications. I had hopes week in and out the Section 8 would help me but as time went on I lost faith. I was finally able to get my voucher in September and into a place but by that time the damage was done. I as so behind just in everything. I decided that I wanted to move back to the Bay Area in March of 2021. I moved to 35th Ave in Oakland where there have been 2 shootings in front of my house. Gunfire has hit our house all on the side. I have tried every Avenue to come up with money to move at this point I need your help. I have done it for so long that I feel so defeated right now. I don’t have $4000’s deposits. We barely have food for the next day. I know everyone is experiencing some sort of crisis at this time but even if you only have $20,$10,$5,$1, or $0.50. Me and my babies could really really use it. If you don’t then please please please just share my post. I’m running out of time, I only have till the first to come up with funds for deposit, moving supplies, furniture, and currently in need of food.