Support Tiffanny and Vieve in Their Time of Need

Thanks for reading friends-of-Tiffanny, friends-of-Genevieve, their family, old friends, old VI friends, friends of Jenny-and-I, and caring second-hand humans to all those listed.

For the last year, Jenn and I have had a number of chances to catch up with our old friend Tiff-Fanny, and got to know her daughter Gevenieve. AKA - "Vieves".

We met Fanny in the Virgin Islands when she also lived and worked at the Mafolie Hotel and Restaurant during our first years down there. Even met her boyfriend a number of times that she eventually left the island to be with. She was pregnant within 2 months of us saying our goodbyes.

Now in the last year, we've been catching up chatting with her about "their" story that quickly became "just the girls story". She's been back in Michigan since 2016, single momming it in Grand Rapids since 2019. It was a funny surprise to Jenny and me when we returned to GR in 2019 to find out Fanny is here with a kiddo that we didn't know about. Didn't realize we all had Michigan roots. Only a world-wide pandemic stopped us from catching up sooner.

This is where it's a bit sensitive to go all in on the backstory, but normal hardships that come from an absentee parent, non-existent child-support, and similar intangibles, simply leaves her in the "hardest 3 years of her life".

So, Jenn and I made it clear since last summer that we are close by and hope to help if we can. Well, after a year of that being said without taking us up on anything (even though I wished she would have), she finally reached out with a moment of pride-swallow and continued to tell her story. Her temp job that worked very well at Vieve's school ended about 2 months ago, and she hopes to turn that into a school admin job again, however there is nothing happening on that front at the moment. Applications in and hope that the new school year will bring that schedule back that makes being a single-mamma make a little bit of sense. She tried to return quickly to a hospital job that didn't pay nearly enough, but that has come with delays only to now be stuck in a 30-day waiting period for immunizations.

All that being said, we already knew she was in a rough spot to start. She's been side-hustling in any way she can while taking care of a kiddo, with things like renting out their apartments extra-space in this AirBNB: https://t.ly/seBhJ

(So alternatively give that a shot if you need a random night near the East Side GR?! Seriously!).

They've gotten behind by about 2-3 months on rent, and the next job/school-year is still a month out. This became a very honest conversation between us where we all recognize how awkward yet brave and reasonable it is to actually reach out and ask for help. But based on the hole she's currently in, it felt doomed for a moment to try to help with just a portion of what we could offer. That's where my crowd-source experience of telling an honest story about a friend in need naturally came up through conversation. So, I do thank all of you that have read thus far, whether you have love for Fanny, Vieves, Jenn, Rylee or myself. Jenn and I will start the trend, and we'd really appreciate it if you could lend a hand as well.

Honestly 2/3 this goal could get them in a good spot. But based on the hole they've been living on the cusp of the last 3 years, I'm setting my sites to a number that may actually give them a "footing" as I like to say. Something to build from for a moment. Thank you.

P.S. If anyone has an in for an entry level admin or law-based position for a Junior Legal Studies student at GVSU, Fanny has also managed to get her 60-credit-hours during semesters from 2022-present!!