Pandemic Relief Funds for the Seyler family in TX

Humbly asking for assistance in these difficult times. The Covid-19 pandemic has decimated the music industry. As all touring, festivals and large concerts have ground to a halt, I have found my family and myself in a particularly difficult situation.  

Prior to the pandemic 80%-90% of my income was from working in a thriving live music industry as a sound engineer and backline technician. In the summer of 2019 I decided to open CS Custom Shop - my side business doing instrument repair and building custom guitars. My goal at the time was to use the relationships I was developing by working intimately with musicians and fellow technicians to build a strong foundation for business to flourish once the day came that I would have to retire from the stage.

Last year in March of 2020 came the subsequent lockdowns and closures. My main revenue stream completely disappeared forcing me to face a very difficult decision. I could either put myself all in into a business years ahead of schedule or close it down, claim bankruptcy and loose many of my tools, just to  get what I could in federal unemployment under the new exceptions for “gig” workers. Unfortunately as a sole-proprietor, I am not eligible for unemployment if I keep the business active nor am I eligible for a PPP loan to help pay myself.

I decided to go all in. It seemed like the best choice at the time. I had just received a deposit to build a completely “out of the box” custom guitar for one customer with one or two potential other customers lined up. So closing the business down wasn’t an option. I also had the belief that the industry would find a way to adapt and find creative ways for more concerts, festivals and TV tapings to return.  

Two months later came the second blow... I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, a major precursor to severe complications from Covid. This along with my history of asthma would mean the necessity to be extremely careful not just for me but also for the sake of my wife and 3 year old daughter’s future. This also meant that I couldn’t just take the next available job I could find. 

Now almost a full year later, after countless unsuccessful applications for grant money and other assistance programs, I find myself here on GoFundMe. Unfortunately in today’s world it is impossible to support a family on my wife’s income as a high school special education teacher.  Our savings are close to being completely diminished and without major assistance or this pandemic coming to an end very soon, we are on track to finding ourselves facing bankruptcy in just 2-3 months. 

My goal is to raise $20,000 to be used in the following way; to pay off some of the extra high interest credit card debt we incurred over the last year to be able to scrape by, pay a web developer to create a web-store for my business and help pay for some basic living expenses to get us through this pandemic. Any amount crowdfunded over that goal would be put towards Graceann’s education fund. 

Asking for help is very difficult for me but, given our present situation I am obligated to do all that I can, trying anything to help my family. I know that many people are struggling right now and many of you may not be in the position to help at this time, and that is ok. If you can help, know that every single dollar and every single share of this post helps. It is appreciated more than I can ever say. All I can say is THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart and hopefully one day in the future I can return the favor.