Donation protected
March 31st is my 40th birthday, as a gift, I would love your help covering the down payment on a car to replace mine which exploded on the freeway with me in it!
What happened: On Friday, the 26th of March, I was driving my car up a hill on I-90 to visit an at-risk youth who I work with as a peer counselor. Cars were honking at me. I thought they were honking because my car was acting sluggish and having trouble getting up the hill. When I turned to look at a passing vehicle, however, I saw them motioning that I pull over immediately. At that moment, I saw flames shoot out of my gas tank! I pulled over and jumped out of the car, fearful that a bigger explosion was yet to come.
Thanks to the kindness of others, the fire was put out, and eventually the fire fighters finished the job. A police officer arrived and made sure I was safe and investigated the damage. My sisters gave me a ride home and provided much-needed emotional support. AAA helped me get the car home (it will soon reach its final destination as a practice vehicle for fire fighters). So many people helped me in this moment of crisis, I am truly focusing on how lucky I am, rather than the shock of things. Unfortunately, Geico isn't giving me a single penny to buy a new vehicle.
Insurance won't help, can you? While I will be able to cover monthly payments on a new-to-me and relatively environmentally-friendly car...one that won't explode on me...no matter how I do the math, I can't figure out how to cover the thousand dollar down payment. I'd be happy to use my stimulus payment, but neither the $600 or the $1400 stimulus checks have been given to me, and the IRS promises that getting access to that money will be long and complicated. So I need your help!
Why I need this: I live in a rural community, it's about 20 minutes drive to the nearest bus stop; this makes travel to my job a challenge without a car, and adds stress to family members whose schedules rarely line up with my own and I don't want to expect to chauffer me. Additionally, working with at-risk children and teenagers, my job requires me to go to their homes around Spokane to meet with them, something that is not possible by bus or bicycle.
So if I can't get this down payment, I will not be able to keep my job. I will be unable to continue attending physical therapy, which will be directly harmful to my health.
It's not just about me, it's about the kids I work with, whose lives are made better by having someone they can talk with about their struggles. I also deliver food to refugee families on the weekend. I donate blood (I have a rarer blood type that literally goes to save the lives of babies, you can't make this up!). As a person whose love language is acts of service, there are so many things I do that will come to a halt if I can't get a new vehicle.
Cost: I am still looking at my options, but due to bad credit as a result of my student loans, the cheapest it looks like I can do is for a down payment of $1000. While I'd be happy to save this up and cover it myself, my job relies on me commuting, so there's no way I can do this without your help. Please, chip in what you can so that I can continue my job and have a safe, reliable car that I can drive without the fear that it will explode on me!
In the rare chance that I raise more than a thousand dollars in this fundraiser, any extra will go directly into car payments because with my bad credit, the APR is not pretty!
Other Ways To Help: If you can't donate the money right now, I get it, things are tight and this is a horrible year to ask for financial help. But please do me a favor and share a link to this fundraise on all the social media platforms and email it to your friends and family for their help. There are so many people with stimulus checks out there who don't need them or are wasting them, and yet in my moment of need I neither got a check or anything from Geico after 3 years of paying them around $50 a month. It's not just me you're helping, it's also those I spend my time helping that will miss out if I can't get this money raised.
Timeline: It's really important that I see the youth I work with face-to-face. I will be talking with my supervisor about what options are available at the moment, and think that I will be able to use Zoom for a week or two, but that's really about it, so I'm hoping to get a car with in the next two weeks.
So please, as uncomfortable as I am asking for your help here, make my 40th birthday one to remember, and help me cover the down payment for a shiny new car to replace my charred and undriveable one!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
What happened: On Friday, the 26th of March, I was driving my car up a hill on I-90 to visit an at-risk youth who I work with as a peer counselor. Cars were honking at me. I thought they were honking because my car was acting sluggish and having trouble getting up the hill. When I turned to look at a passing vehicle, however, I saw them motioning that I pull over immediately. At that moment, I saw flames shoot out of my gas tank! I pulled over and jumped out of the car, fearful that a bigger explosion was yet to come.
Thanks to the kindness of others, the fire was put out, and eventually the fire fighters finished the job. A police officer arrived and made sure I was safe and investigated the damage. My sisters gave me a ride home and provided much-needed emotional support. AAA helped me get the car home (it will soon reach its final destination as a practice vehicle for fire fighters). So many people helped me in this moment of crisis, I am truly focusing on how lucky I am, rather than the shock of things. Unfortunately, Geico isn't giving me a single penny to buy a new vehicle.
Insurance won't help, can you? While I will be able to cover monthly payments on a new-to-me and relatively environmentally-friendly car...one that won't explode on me...no matter how I do the math, I can't figure out how to cover the thousand dollar down payment. I'd be happy to use my stimulus payment, but neither the $600 or the $1400 stimulus checks have been given to me, and the IRS promises that getting access to that money will be long and complicated. So I need your help!
Why I need this: I live in a rural community, it's about 20 minutes drive to the nearest bus stop; this makes travel to my job a challenge without a car, and adds stress to family members whose schedules rarely line up with my own and I don't want to expect to chauffer me. Additionally, working with at-risk children and teenagers, my job requires me to go to their homes around Spokane to meet with them, something that is not possible by bus or bicycle.
So if I can't get this down payment, I will not be able to keep my job. I will be unable to continue attending physical therapy, which will be directly harmful to my health.
It's not just about me, it's about the kids I work with, whose lives are made better by having someone they can talk with about their struggles. I also deliver food to refugee families on the weekend. I donate blood (I have a rarer blood type that literally goes to save the lives of babies, you can't make this up!). As a person whose love language is acts of service, there are so many things I do that will come to a halt if I can't get a new vehicle.
Cost: I am still looking at my options, but due to bad credit as a result of my student loans, the cheapest it looks like I can do is for a down payment of $1000. While I'd be happy to save this up and cover it myself, my job relies on me commuting, so there's no way I can do this without your help. Please, chip in what you can so that I can continue my job and have a safe, reliable car that I can drive without the fear that it will explode on me!
In the rare chance that I raise more than a thousand dollars in this fundraiser, any extra will go directly into car payments because with my bad credit, the APR is not pretty!
Other Ways To Help: If you can't donate the money right now, I get it, things are tight and this is a horrible year to ask for financial help. But please do me a favor and share a link to this fundraise on all the social media platforms and email it to your friends and family for their help. There are so many people with stimulus checks out there who don't need them or are wasting them, and yet in my moment of need I neither got a check or anything from Geico after 3 years of paying them around $50 a month. It's not just me you're helping, it's also those I spend my time helping that will miss out if I can't get this money raised.
Timeline: It's really important that I see the youth I work with face-to-face. I will be talking with my supervisor about what options are available at the moment, and think that I will be able to use Zoom for a week or two, but that's really about it, so I'm hoping to get a car with in the next two weeks.
So please, as uncomfortable as I am asking for your help here, make my 40th birthday one to remember, and help me cover the down payment for a shiny new car to replace my charred and undriveable one!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Organizer
Cliff Hansen
Organizer
Valleyford, WA