My name is Gary Poirier. I am a family man who has been married to my high school sweetheart and one true love, Christine, for nearly 35 years. Together, we have three amazing children. Our eldest daughter is married to our son-in-law, whom we have known and loved since she was in high school. They have given us the one and only precious grandchild we will probably ever have. Our granddaughter is an amazing second grader who is the absolute joy and light of our lives. Our middle son is an incredibly hardworking young man who, despite being on the mild end of the autism spectrum and having other mild processing differences, has worked diligently to overcome these challenges and has risen to become a highly respected professional in his field. Our youngest, Stéphane, is an amazing, beautiful, and beloved enby (non-binary person). They are on the autism spectrum with multiple additional diagnoses, and though they are incredibly intelligent, they have struggled their entire 27 years of life trying to process, understand, and live in the world around them. As a result, they are unable to work or live on their own. We have always supported them in every way, including financially, and have been happy and proud to do so.

My family has always been the most important thing to me, and I have always done everything possible to provide the best possible life for them. I have been an IT professional in the healthcare field for over 35 years and have always been able to provide a reasonably comfortable living to support my family. My wife, Christine, was always a hard worker who loved her career and worked full-time from home while raising our three children for many years. However, in the early 2000’s, Christine became ill with multiple illnesses and, after seeking every available treatment, was finally forced to close her business and stop working. Although continuing to look for treatment and relief over the last 20+ years, she has unfortunately been unable to work.

We have never been well off, but I could provide most things we needed and a safe and comfortable home for my family. While our lives changed dramatically with Christine's illnesses, we were always able to meet our basic needs. We never pursued things like permanent disability for her or Stephane because we didn't need it to survive and get by, and believed it should be there for people who are in dire need of it to live.

Since I was 16, I have never been without a job for more than a few months due to layoffs or other career circumstances. I was unfortunately laid off in the spring of 2025 due to severe financial cutbacks and large-scale layoffs at the Boston area healthcare organization where I worked for the previous 6 years. I have since been aggressively searching for employment, but for the first time in my career, I have had very little success finding opportunities that match my experience and background and would enable me to provide for my family. The current job market climate is especially bad for my sector of healthcare IT with all the economic upheaval and uncertainty. Also, I have reached the point in my life where age discrimination sadly becomes something that seems much more common than I ever realized. I now find that the longevity & credentials that showed my high level of experience in my field have now reached the point of seemingly lending to a lack of interest in pursuing someone in my age group.

Since my unemployment benefits ran out some time ago and there are currently no extensions available in Massachusetts, we are now reaching the point where we have exhausted the modest financial reserve we had available. Homelessness is becoming a very real danger for us, and we are also struggling to keep the utilities on and put food on the table. We are aggressively pursuing every means of assistance program we can find, but these are not things that happen quickly or easily. Also, since I am not quite yet 60 years old, this too greatly limits the number of options available to us. The decisions we made earlier in our lives to refrain from collecting SSDI or other benefits for my wife and youngest child also seem to be working against us as well. We have been advised by our landlord that we will be asked to vacate imminently if we are not able to remedy the rent that has not been paid. We have nowhere to go and no financial resources to find another living situation, and no family to turn to who can help at this point.

While we live in one of the most affordable communities in the greater Boston region, Massachusetts is still an expensive area of the country, and all cost of living expenses from rent and utilities to groceries are expensive. We have never sought relief funds of any kind in the past to survive. I have always been able to find some way to see us through even the leanest of times. For the first time in my life, I find myself having to try to seek the help of others just to provide food and shelter. We do not have any additional bills, having long avoided the use of credit cards and utilizing mass transit and living without a vehicle since moving to the Boston area years ago.

At this point, to start with, we are hoping to get $16,500 assistance for the following:

$12,000 for 3 months rental expenses (including past due and the upcoming month)

$2,200 for 3 months' utilities, which includes electric, heat, and hot water (also including past due and the upcoming month)

$2,300 for 3 months of food, prescription medication, transportation (Uber and public transit as we own no vehicle), and other basic routine living expenses

Our initial hope is to find assistance to help us survive while I continue to search for work and we pursue formal assistance options. This is a very difficult request to make, as I have made it my life's work to provide for my family at all costs. The current job climate and age-related difficulties, as well as limitations on the type of work options I can pursue due to severe back and joint problems of my own, have put me in an unprecedented situation in my experience. I am simply desperate to ensure that my family does not end up out on the street in winter in New England.

We would be incredibly grateful for any donation you can find it in your heart and ability to make. Please know that you would have our heartfelt appreciation that would never be forgotten. Thank you so much for taking the time to read our story and consider our situation.

Sincerely and with all best wishes,

Gary Poirier