My name is Andy Bartels and my friend Pamela Parisi finds herself in a very difficult situation at this time. Pam is struggling right now to keep a roof over her head. She has worked hard all her life to be self-sufficient. She is 70 years old and fiercely independent, despite having a debilitating chronic illness, ME/CFS. This illness affects her nervous system, energy capacity & overall ability to function. Because of factors explained below she finds herself in a full relapse of this illness

There is light on the end of the tunnel though. She is less than 5 months away from moving into subsidized senior housing. Once she is in that residence, she will be able to support herself on her Social Security. She just needs to survive and keep a roof over her head for the next 6 months.

Of late, she has supported herself within the confines of this illness by running her own businesses, which allowed her to work when she was able-bodied and rest when symptoms were high. One of those businesses in the travel industry was rendered inoperable by the pandemic. After the pandemic, it was unable to get back up & running because of the catastrophic changes in the business world in NYC that the pandemic created.

Despite this, she was able to keep going through her e-commerce business. This business failed in the fall of last year. through no fault of her own. Everyone that knows Pam, know she is a scrapper, that she never gives up. She has tried every possible way over the past 7 months to replace the income she made from that business, with almost no success. With this relentless pounding of the pavement she has run herself into the ground and into a full relapse of her illness.. This has made it nearly impossible for her to work at all & her Social Security does not cover her expenses. She has run through her savings over during this time, while she was trying to bring in other income. Despite these financial setbacks the rent on her small apartment continues rise. It has increased 30% since she moved here & continues to go up.

So what she needs is the help paying for basic needs and keeping her afloat to prevent her from becoming homeless. It is a short stretch before she is able to move into the senior subsidized housing. Pam is single without children and her parents and older brothers are deceased. Having these funds will allow Pam to recover from this relapse so she can begin functioning again like she was before.

It is with reluctance that Pam finds herself in this position to be asking for money.It is a bitter pill to swallow for someone who has prized her self-sufficiency. She wouldn't be doing so unless it was a dire necessity without other options. She is getting all the government help that is possible.

As mentioned previously,It will be spend on the necessities - rent, car insurance, car payment for her 2007 Toyota Corolla(her car was totaled parked in front of her house 2 years ago, so she had to get another one), phone, internet service, gas, electric, etc. It will not be spent on dining out, entertainment or anything like that.

In addition to this fundraiser she is trying to sell anything she has to bring in money to gap this shortfall. You can contact Pam to get a list of things she is selling to see if there is something you can use.

Pam thanks you in advance for any help you can give. She also welcomes anyone to message her for more information on her situation or her illness. She will reply with her phone number so you can talk with her. It can get lonely when you are unable to function in a normal manner & she appreciates the contact.