Support Ralph's Move to a Safe Apartment

Hi wonderful people in the United States, hope you’re blessed. My name is Raphael “Ralph” T. Harlan, and I’m a long time native Michigander who’s disabled (Developmental disability and speech-impediment), a 12 year business owner (Raphael’s Donuts). I was fostered at age 6 in 1998 and adopted at age 9 in 2001 in Detroit by my adoptive family. My birth mother was unable to care for me. My mother had many problems, amongst them her crippling drug addiction. Due to her having me when she was a drug addict, I developed a mental delay and was unable to learn basic life skills for the first six years of life, such as eating solid foods, using the bathroom and dressing up, until my foster care placement and adoption. My birth mother never taught me those skills. Eventually, I improved those areas over time. Finally, she abused me by tying me to a tree at my first childhood home and attempted to “blast me out into outer space”, actually trying to fatally take my life. I hid myself underneath as many couch pillows as possible to prevent her from killing me.

In 2004, I suffered the worst incident that a child in grade school could have never imagined would happen to them — as a preteen sixth grader, I was sexually assaulted by my male eighth-grade classmate. Though he was permanently expelled from school, he was never caught and persecuted.

I’m a long-time Christian and I also used to be part of the Jehovah’s Witness organization as a study for the past two years, even though not baptized, and I most recently dropped out of the mind-control group after I discovered a lot of negative things that were going on in the organization thru several videos.

Back in September of last year, my apartment was burglarized and I was harassed by random drug users who showed up at my home unannounced and unexpectedly, causing an uneasy, unsafe feeling, and bringing me to the realization that my present home isn’t ideal for me anymore. They may be part of my former JW group’s harassing campaigns to scare me into getting back with them, and now knowing more about the truth about the organization, I refused to give in to them.

Raphael’s Donuts, the world’s first and most established diabetic-safe and allergy-safe vegan donut company, does oven-baked donuts and donut ballz that are low-glycemic, naturally sweetened with agave nectar and stevia, and made with health-beneficial ingredients such as chickpea flour, flax and chia seeds and various organic fruits.

Presently, for the past five-plus years, I’ve been living in an low-income apartment complex that has Section 8 thru the building itself, and it’s proven to be a negative environment, especially with it comes to the maintenance of the apartments and how it’s being run.

For example, for my entire time living in the complex, I haven't had working heat in my control. It's always been another neighbor unknowingly controlling my heat when they had theirs on, so it's either as unbearably hot as a sauna, especially in the winter time that I literally had to open the windows to cool down my apartment, or unbearably cold. I haven't had any thermostats set up by the maintenance people that work effectively or properly. Also, I haven't had proper air circulation or ventilation in my apartment my entire time there; because of that, there have been several spots of mold growing on the walls in places such as the bathroom and the living room and dining room. And there have been constantly improper jobs done by the maintenance in which I still have leaky ceilings specifically in the living room and cracked caulks in my bathtub. And there have been times where I had gas leaks.

On a few occasions just within the last year alone living in my present apartment complex -- including the break-in, I've had a few of my belongings stolen from me that I had to replace, such as laundry money, a laundry bag, a board game, and even one debit card, and neither did the management at my complex or even the police officer do anything about those incidents when I reported those events to them. And throughout my time living there, I've had random drug addicts come to my apartment either asking me for money or having me confused with someone else they may know. All of those incidents and events have made my living situation extremely unbearable and toxic to my well-being.

I'm presently on government assistance programs such as Section 8 due to my disability, but the type of Section 8 I get from the apartment complex isn't legit as they use my social security number to get me Section 8 benefits but the one which I don't even get a voucher to transfer to another apartment, meaning they have been taking advantage of me throughout my time for their own gain instead of caring for me as their tenant.

I’m in the process of moving to a new low-income apartment complex on the east side of the Southeastern Michigan area, and that apartment complex, as I discovered with the help of a close friend, is ideal for me, especially in my living situation. I’m estimated to move into it around April-June time, but the waiting period could be lengthy till the approval happens, and during the period, even though I'm great with my savings money-wise, I've experienced financial hardships due to the waiting process.

With that said, I’m going to need boosting funds for my move. The monetary donations you make will go towards moving expenses, monthly rent (which I might have to pay full rental amount month to month till I’m approved for the subsidized monthly amount), and anything I might need for my new apartment, such as furniture & mattresses, cookware & bakeware, and many more. I’d greatly appreciate any donations of any kind and any kind of help you give me. Thanks a lot. Much Love and blessings.