To my fellow community;

My name is Alisha. I am 31. My home, as well as many others, was extremely impacted by the storm. I’ve put my blood, sweat, and tears into trying to put mine and my siblings' home back together the last several months while also making sure my 4 siblings (they are 18, 16, 15, and 8 but are still my babies) have a good, safe place to stay until it’s livable again (it’s not very far, we’ve come a long way).

Balancing my regular job, a part-time job, the house repairs (drywall work, siding, cutting trees), and keeping up with the kids' temporary housing has not been easy on me. However, I also lost my only vehicle about a month ago (it was stolen from right out front), and I’ve spent a lot of time walking and on my feet since then, especially the last two weeks.

I’ve been living in our home doing repairs with no electricity or running water and also paying for them a nice motel room by the week in their school district (they usually get cabbed or taken to school from 63115 to Ritenour school district where they have gone their whole lives since before moving here to the city), which is all costing me a fortune.

I need to get off my feet DESPERATELY and take just a little break for about a week and recoup as this is all getting extremely stressful and overwhelming. I work a remote job from my laptop, which I usually walk to the library to work 5-6 hours and walk back to our home. Plus, I clean residential homes on the weekends for a few families I’ve cleaned for over 8 years.

I was searching for a spare bedroom in someone's kind home that they wouldn’t mind sharing with me for about a week so I can relax, work, and get off my very hurt feet since I desperately need a shower and some time away from this house before I fall into depression.

But someone on the Nextdoor app mentioned that I should make this GoFundMe and share it to see how that goes and maybe get me a room between our home and their room. I thought about it, and it sounded like a good idea. To be honest, if I could raise enough money to get the rest of the materials to fix our home and have utilities back on, I wouldn’t even need money for a motel room!

I am a good person, I’ve spent the last 18 years raising my siblings and always putting others first. I am very much in a situation now where I myself am reaching out for a little help, and it’s kind of embarrassing to have to do so. I would give my shirt off my back to someone in need and will most definitely pay it forward in any way I can in the future!