We need your help getting "back to square one."

 

Hey, a lot of the folks that will probably see this already know the members of DLC House, our ramshackle, queer little family, but for everyone else, a brief introduction:

 

Brian and Nikita (that one's me), two non-binary working parents and local community organizers.

 

Makayla and Alexander, our two kids (pictured here begrudgingly getting along).

 

Charlie and Dexter, our two cats, Maine Coon mix brothers from the same litter.

 

Weasel and the dearly departed Mace, who was Brian's ESA and whose passing is part of our current crisis.

 

 

 

The Context.

 

For the last year or so, DLC has been struggling along but just managing to scrape by - before the COVID-19 pandemic, Brian was working in food service as a catering manager, and when lockdowns and isolation started hitting, that job essentially... evaporated. While the various stimulus efforts and expanded UI support did help keep things on an even-keel for some time, once those ran out, we were a four-person, four-animal household surviving on barely more than a one-person income - the first job Brian landed after returning to the labor market was very friendly and accomodating to our flexibility needs taking care of the children and managing the remote to in-person to remote to in-person tug-of-war playing out in the school system... But it just wasn't measuring up to budget needs as a part-time entry position, and I was having to cover any shortfalls for our cost of living through my very meager savings and better-paying freelance work.

 

The Crisis.

 

At the beginning of 2022, Brian finally got on board at a better, full-time job that could really contribute something to household costs - and just in time, with the last of my savings and emergency options running out. Things were settling into a liveable groove, and our budget was about to be comfortably neutral for the first time since the start of the pandemic. March was going to be the turning point - finally, a moment to breathe easy after years on the edge.

 

On March 9th, 2022, at 12:24am, the bigger and older of our two dogs died in our arms. Mace had one final, normal day on the 8th before rapidly declining late that evening and passing, we suspect, of heart failure.

 

That morning, Brian was released from the contract at their new job after requesting a minor duty modification for the day while they grieved. The details suggest this termination had more to do with a manager's personal motives than any policy, but that's another matter.

 

Now.

 

The turning point we had been working for has completely flipped, from finally recovering to total devastation - I've used up every private resource I had to leverage in keeping us afloat while Brian's employment was being straightened out, and now we're back, not even to square one, but some hypothetical square zero. We're where we started near the beginning of the pandemic, with Brian's job suddenly gone, relying on my income alone for the whole household, but this time my reserves are already empty, and we're still mourning a family member that was our heart for 11 years.

 

Help us at least get properly back to square one. This money will give us the lifeline we had before, a chance to keep scraping by while Brian seeks out a new job that can keep up with their share of household costs and won't so suddenly kick them while they're down. It'll cover the portion of our bills that I'm no longer able to smooth out with my income alone, keep us fed, and cushion our children while we get the household back on track with self-sustaining income.

 

 

Thank you to anyone that has followed our situation this far, and we're deeply grateful for every bit of help in this awful time.