Hi, I’m Jenn :) I am a disabled veteran. I suffer from complex PTSD and am homebound. I have a restricted income and do not personally collect social security as I really want to work towards being able to go back to work one day. As of the 16th of April, I have 16 months sober from all mind-altering substances. I never in my life thought I would ever be able to say that, but here I am! While on the streets, I was groomed to be trafficked, and I believe I was digitally trafficked, but I can’t prove it, and we’ve all seen how it goes for women when they come forward. This is something I have recently started to talk about, but I face the challenges of that every single day, the mental processing of what I went through. I hope one day to advocate for trafficking survivors because it’s a miracle to make it out, and actually finding people that you can consider safe is very few and far between. I struggle with letting people in because I always question, “Who sent you?” My abusers are still free today. I was attending school; I have chosen to keep the name of the school private, but while attending school, I was sexually harassed by an instructor. His exact words were, “Well, my wife has cervical cancer, so we can’t have sex, but she doesn’t mind if I step out to have my needs met, as long as she doesn’t know.” It was just a solid reminder of how small the criminal world is, especially when it comes to digitally trafficking someone. I try so hard to stay away from reminders of that life, so I quit school and am focusing on my family.

I am a mother of 3 beautiful children, ages 22, 15, and 14. My oldest just got home from active duty Army and is facing 3 separate surgeries from being injured on a jump. He was a paratrooper, 82nd Airborne HOOAH! So being home is essentially in everyone’s best interest. He will have a total of 18 months of recovery time from the 3 surgeries, all of which are focused on his right hip. He has a torn labrum, has to get some of his hip bone shaved down, and they have to bolt his femur to his pelvic bone. All his surgeries will be covered by the Veterans Administration, thank goodness! In June of last year, I bought my very first home, and because of my hectic schedule with school, kids, medical appointments, etc., I forgot to turn in my property tax exemption paperwork to the county tax assessor. I owe them a little over $600 for 2025. I have since turned in the paperwork, so I’m covered for 2026 on. With the new year came the HOA fees. I was making $100 payments every month, but the company was adding on fees every month since it wasn’t paid in full. So when I made the $100 payment, fees were $60, so essentially only $40 was being reduced from the principal amount. I am trying to refinance my house; I have everything completed except they need my HOA fees to be paid in full. My son helped me to pay a big chunk of the HOA fees off, but there is still a little over $300 to be paid. My two youngest kids came to live with me in October after a violent incident occurred with their father. They were able to take very little of their personal belongings out of their father’s house, so every month I buy them a few things they need, but we’ve had to basically start completely over with their clothes and personal belongings. When this happened, my daughter was taken out of volleyball, which was really hard for her. There’s a local volleyball club here that she wants to attend. I paid the $70 tryout fee, but I’m not exactly sure how I will pay the dues when she makes the team (I have full confidence in her making the team).

I was offered a position as a transaction coordinator. I’d be able to work from home, which would be perfect for me, but the school I want to go to doesn’t accept VA benefits. They do, however, take 25% off of the total tuition, which would bring the total cost to about $735. I pay all of my monthly bills in full every single month. I always ensure we have food in the fridge and gas in the car. It’s all these annual bills that are really getting to me. Since I have gotten sober, life has really thrown me some curveballs. My faith has been tested, my dedication to staying sober has been tested, and my discipline has been tested. I’m trying to be proactive in my life as best as possible. I’m trying to be a present mother, a good mother. It really isn’t easy for me to ask for help. During the time I have written this, I have come up with 10 valid reasons why I shouldn’t do this, but I came up with one really good reason why I should. My kids. God guided me to do this, and I’ve gotten a lot better at listening to His direction.

I am fundraising to cover my property tax exemption, HOA fees, and my daughter's volleyball dues.