Hi, I’m Bridgette! I’m a mutual aid volunteer in Atlanta, GA. Back in the summer of 2018 I was living in my car in San Francisco, California, and BC let me stay with her for free through the Couchsurfing app. Her grace, hospitality, and quirky sense of humor helped restore my faith in humanity in a dark time of my life, and I hope to return the favor. BC has experienced tremendous hardships in the last couple of years. My goal is to provide a safety net for her so she can focus on getting her life back together and eventually obtain custody of her infant daughter. Since the pandemic started, BC has endured homelessness, job insecurity, domestic violence, discrimination, extreme sickness during pregnancy (HG, or Hyperemesis Gravidarum, when the mother experiences intense illness everytime she eats), and ultimately surrendering her newborn daughter to CPS due to the aforementioned circumstances. BC is a strong, steadfast survivor with a long way to go, and I want to help pave the way for her with financial ease. 

I have BC’s complete testimony attached at the end of the blurb, in her own words. (Trigger warning: domestic violence)

BC’s birthday is February 18th. Our first goal is to reach at least $1000 by then. She has high-functioning autism; as such she is able to work, but still has a difficult time keeping a job with her unstable circumstances. HFA manifests in social settings; some work environments can be very toxic and triggering for her. She needs security and financial cushion so she can find the right occupation for her skill set . We all know that finding a job is a job in and of itself! Lately she begs for money with a sign in public spaces, but several people explicitly judge her for her appearance. Her ex partner pushed her from behind during a domestics dispute and she chipped her front teeth, so some people assume she’s using meth, and they’re hesitant to donate money to her.

Through it all, BC takes good care of her rescue dog and maintains a relatively safe home in a used Winnebago at various campsites. She enjoys supervised visits with her daughter, so she stays in the central coastal region of California. 

If you’d like to bypass GoFundMe and send money directly to BC, her Cashapp is bcolesf

It is outlandish that one person could endure all of this suffering. Let’s show her the compassion she deserves. $1000 is just enough to help her live stress-free for a few weeks or so, but if we could get to $5000 or more, then BC could have a safety net so she could focus on job hunting and then apartment hunting, not to mention get some dental care for her chipped teeth. Her front teeth are in constant pain. 

Thank you, BC, for being so open and vulnerable in sharing your story with us. In her own words, that she texted to me:

“Two years ago I lost my live work situation due to COVID. Previous to that I had been doing pasta dinners for the street kids, and had become pretty good friends with them. When I lost my place, and my job, I decided to join them. Ended up dating one of them and coming down to SLO, so that he could serve out his parole (at one point, he was trying to do right). I got pregnant and had HG. It was really bad. Spent three weeks in the hospital because I couldn't keep anything down. That's when the abuse started. He started drinking a lot. He was really paranoid. Always accused me of trying to screw other dudes, called me a whore, a bitch, said I ‘bought’ friends. Poured gasoline on me and threatened to light me on fire. Threatened to beat me in front of the cops, and not stop until they shot him. I wrote in my journal that I wanted to leave, and that I had a plan. He ended up finding it, and called me a backstabbing bitch. Said I was trying to make him out to be a monster.

“I was so sick. I literally couldn't do anything. He called me lazy every single day

“After I had her, like a month after, we were at a campsite, when the trailer pop upped (that trailer got towed). We had an argument, and he told me to get out of his sight. I started running, and he shoved me from behind, busting my teeth. I started planning how to leave again, and take [my daughter] with me.

“Two weeks later, he got drunk, and got into a fight with a friend, and then started arguing with me. I packed a bag of baby stuff, and told him I was leaving, and he grabbed me and shoved me into the floor of the truck. I started screaming, and he let me go, but followed me, as I took the baby across the parking lot. Halfway across, he grabbed her. Rather than fight with him in the middle of a busy truck stop, I let him take her back to the truck, went into the store, and told them to call the cops. I went back out, where he was screaming at a trucker. He knew that he'd seen everything that happened, and that I had probably called the cops, so he let me take her

“The next day CPS came and took her. Said it was my ‘failure to protect’ and I should have left earlier.

“He served a 10 day jail sentence. Three years probation, and a $100 fine. I had to move into a shelter, that treated me horribly because of my autism. I was evicted, and had to go back to living in my car, where he found me, and assaulted me again. For safety's sake, and because a truck is not a home, I SOMEHOW found the perfect trade, and here I am now”

-BC