Help Lana Finish School

Hello Everyone

My wonderful partner is in need of financial help so that she can continue to pay rent, buy food and gas, and finish her welding course at college.

She has had an extremely rough few years. Just prior to the pandemic she was assaulted by her ex roommate when she tried to get her security deposit back, which led to him pressing charges against her, alleging that she assaulted him, this resulted in the need for her to retain a lawyer, and has cost her thousands in legal fees and unimaginable mental distress. At the beginning of the pandemic she was evicted, which cost her hundreds of dollars and even more mental distress (finding an apartment under complete lockdown, as a trans woman with a dog was terrifying). She was physically assaulted by a man when she tried to ask neighbours to stop setting off fireworks because it was triggering her ptsd, and she was harassed by the police and verbally assaulted by bystanders for showing up in support of people protesting evictions. She is at high risk of complications due to Covid, as as such has been incredibly stressed the entire pandemic due to living in a country with a collapsing healthcare system and the highest death toll in the world. We decided that the best thing for her would be moving to Canada in order to alleviate her health care expenses, living expenses, as well as finally being able to see each other as much as we want. In order to achieve that, the easiest route we could find was getting a job in a trade (welding) and moving here on a work visa. Lana applied to welding school (which was a massive achievement by itself), got in, and has been maintaining a 4.0gpa the entire pandemic, while facing numerous financial setbacks, housing instability, and coping with being autistic in a neurotypical learning environment. I cannot stress how hard this has been, just a short while ago she was hospitalized because her lung spontaneously collapsed, she found out she had to move yet again (the third time during the pandemic), financial aid for school for the next semester was way lower than expected, and more recently she lost her beloved dog and bestfriend Loki. Losing Loki has been devastating, the one thing keeping her going through all this was him, and not having him in her life has completely destabilized the small amount of stability she had managed to create. Currently she has used up all her savings that were intended to cover her costs for the rest of school. She had to spend more than anticipated to pay for the recent move, and the amount of financial aid she received was less than expected, along with having to manage the unexpected costs of caring for Loki during his last few months. Taking out a student loan is not possible, and would not give her the stability needed to alleviate the mental strain of managing school. She is unable to work at the moment, both due to her mental health, and having to prioritize finishing school so that she can get a job that will pay enough to allow her some financial freedom.

By donating you would be helping a queer trans woman finish her education so that she can escape a horrible health care system, join her family in Canada, and give her the time and resources to process and grieve the loss of her dog. I am hoping to raise enough to cover her rent, food, and car expenses for the next year, so that she can focus on school, and finally have a stable and safe living environment. I have discussed with her what a realistic amount would be and chose $10,000USD. Any extra amount raised will be redistributed directly to Black trans women in need of financial support.

If you had financial support from your family while you went to school, please donate, trans women rarely ever receive support from family, and collectively we can be that rich family member for Lana. If you know her, you know she will aggressively defend those with less privilege than her, and is the most generous person when it comes to taking care of others.

Please share if you cannot donate, thank you all so much in advance, community care is truly magical.