Support Lauren's Quest To Fulfill Her Purpose

Why $1,000,000? Because I have BIG plans, and it's a miracle I'm still here to achieve them. I'll break down what I would use the funds on later, but let me give you a quick overview.

1) Buy my dad and I a house

2) absolve Covid related debts

3) attend college

4) invest in my ministry and do more outreach activities.

Now a little more about me...

My name is Lauren Gross. I'm 29 years old and will be 30 in July. Doctors said I would only live to be 3 or 4, so this is a huge milestone for me. You might be asking why doctors said I would only live to be 3 or 4. Well, because I have a disability called Spinal Muscular Atrophy, also known as SMA. It basically means that I can't move because none of my muscles work, including my lungs. I have to be on life support 24/7, otherwise I wouldn't be here. I also can't swallow, so I get all my nutrition through a g-tube. Nurses have to come into my home around the clock to care for me. I'm either confined to my bed or wheelchair due to lack of movement. I'm still kicking though (not literally. LOL). Even though I have this disability, I still live life to the fullest. I run a Facebook group to help people with their faith, counsel people online voluntarily and so much more. I also attend online Bible study every week to learn more about the Word and to hopefully encourage people and let them know God has a plan for them no matter how hard life gets. I do all this by using my super nifty eyegaze computer. All in all, I have been truly blessed despite my disability and some depression I have been fighting.

You may be wondering why I would need a million dollars. What would I do with it? Well, let me try to break it down for you. I have a lot planned for my life, but as you all know, life is so not inexpensive. LOL Especially, with my disability. I have to pay for medical equipment insurance won't cover and personal products. That's not including bills and utilities. Life has been difficult ever since Covid. I know God has so much more planned for my life though and I want to fulfill my purpose in every way possible. That's where I need your help! A million dollars might seem like a lot to ask for, but is it really when you want to fulfill your dreams, serve God's Kingdom and help people I think not. Don't go anywhere because you're about to get a taste of what's inside my mind. (My friend would probably say that would be scary. LOL)

What would I do with a million dollars? The 1st thing I would do is buy my dream home with my dad. A house just came up on the market that would be absolutely perfect for us! It has everything we have visioned. The house is big enough for us, but not too big. The house is designed where me and my dad will have privacy again while still living together. Our home now is pretty small and neither of us have much privacy to do the things we need to do, like think, pray, have personal phone calls and work. This new house though will give us the ability to have that again. It would also be our dream home because it's big enough where I can go anywhere in the house with my wheelchair. I could go in the living room to watch tv, in the kitchen to cook or bake or the office to do work. Even the deck is big enough to where I could go outside to read, meditate, pray or just hang out with my family and friends and soak up some vitamin D, which will also help me mentally. The living room and dining room is also big enough where I can host family events or Bible studies. This house would give me so much more independence, which I need since I'm a young adult woman. My room would also be big enough where nurses can get around more easily. Let's face it, some of my nurses are clumsy. LOL I could also get way more organized with my medical supplies, games, clothes, etc. We have no more room in the house I'm in now and it's honestly getting cluttered. This house will help us be more orderly, which will also help with our business we want to start and honor God. The last thing that makes this our dream home is that it has a guest bedroom. As I mentioned before, I need 24/7 nursing. If they want to stay over for a double shift or they're working the next day and don't want to drive home because of the distance, they could just use the guest bedroom for whatever they needed. They would also have privacy. My grandmother is also 90, so we could also move her in with us if ever needed. As you can see, this house has basically everything we need and would help us tremendously! The house we're in now has been a great home for us for years, but it's time to move on. I would really love to surprise my dad by giving him his dream home, which would also be mine. He doesn't know I'm asking for help and we would both be ecstatic if we could raise the funds to purchase this house!

The 2nd thing I would do with a million dollars is absolve all of our debt. As I said before, things have been rough ever since Covid. Even though insurance covers for 24/7 nursing, we unfortunately don't always get that. Due to nursing shortage, my dad had to quit his job to take care of me because he's the only one who can if I don't have a nurse. He sometimes has to take care of me 80 hours a week, so there's no way he can hold a job. He also has some minor health issues where he can still take care of me, but it's hard for him to do a 9 to 5 job. We were able to live on savings for a couple of years, but unfortunately they finally dwindled down and now we're trying to juggle things. We have had to put things on credit cards, which has put us pretty far in debt. I would love to be able to pay off everything though and start fresh. It would take off a lot of weight for me and my dad financially and mentally. Paying off the debt would also hopefully help me apply for scholarships and whatnot for me to attend college, which brings me to my 3rd point.

The 3rd thing I would do with a million dollars is attend my dream college at Olivet Nazarene University and become a social worker. Due to financial issues and part of my disability, I haven't been able to go back to college or get a career. My dream is to go to Olivet though. A lot of my family have went there. Including my dad and grandma, so that would make me 3rd generation. How cool would that be? It's also a solid Christian college, so I would also be able to learn more about God. I would love to get my degree in social work! That has been my dream job since I was 13 years old. People have been helping me all my life and I want to do the same. While I do volunteer as an online listener, which is pretty much like a counselor, I want to do more. My vision is to work as a social worker in a school. Probably junior high or high school. Unfortunately though, I can't get a career in social work without a degree and I need to go to college in order to do that. As we all know, college is expensive. It unfortunately had to be put on the back burner for quite some time now due to me having to pay for some medical supplies and of course just daily living. With your help though, I could finally finish school, get my degree and help people in the process. I would also get a degree in pastoral ministry and most likely music, which brings me to my last, but certainly not least, reasoning.

If I had a million dollars, my dad and I would finally be able to start our joint ministry together, Renvid Ministries. This has been a vision for us for years. We want to reach out to more people and show them the love of Christ. We have a lot of goals for this, so bare with me. LOL The 1st thing we want to do is start a church somewhere. My dad would be the senior pastor with me co-pastoring alongside him and hopefully somehow helping with the worship team. We need land for that though of course, which costs some dough. Can someone tell life to slow it's roll on costs? LOL The next thing we would do is build an amusement park for people with disabilities. Unfortunately, rides now are almost impossible for people with disabilities to get on. Believe me, I know. We would love to change that though and build an amusement park that's adapted for people like me. Maybe even build multiple amusement parks across the world. I would also love to build a music school for people with disabilities. Music has helped me in so many ways and I know it would help others emotionally and mentally too. Other things we want to do are run a successful homeless outreach program, help people attend church services and other fun activities who might not get to often for whatever reason, start a blog and so much more. All in all, we want to spread the Gospel and serve God's Kingdom in whatever way we can.

I know it probably seemed like I rambled on, but if you made it this far, congratulations! You finally made it to the end! Talking a lot is one of my specialties. Just ask anyone. LOL Let's face it though, everything I put is a pretty cool vision. I can't do it alone though, which is why I need your help! I would love to surprise my dad with our dream home and everything else I listed in here! He doesn't know I'm doing this, so if you know him, hushity hush-hush! LOL I know that a million dollars sounds like a lot, but every penny would be used to serve God's Kingdom and fulfill His purpose for my life. You can also be a part of something amazing! Let's face it, wouldn't it be cool if you could say you knew a millionaire? If you could help in any way, I would really appreciate it! So would my dad! Anyone who donates, please know that I pray for God's richest blessings on you! I will even if you don't! Prayers are appreciated too! Let's help fulfill my dreams together and even improve my quality of life! God bless y'all!