My name is Sami. I'm trying to raise funds to make a cross country move home to Oregon.

In 2020, COVID hit and life changed for me. Work gave me a choice between severance pay or uncertain hours (which meant much less pay). I found out with little notice that I wouldn't have roommates. As anyone from Portland, OR knows, cost of living isn't great for someone making barely above minimum wage. This gave me a push to work toward my goals of training dogs as a career but with few options in Portland to make it happen.

So I took the severance pay and moved east with my dog, cat, and everything I could fit in a tiny Mazda, and we landed in Kentucky. I've learned a lot since I got here. I have a job working in veterinary medicine that I love. My goals have changed; I intend to stay in vet med and specialize in animal behavior. This means going back to school to become a licensed veterinary technician and then continuing on to receive specialist accreditation in behavior.

But it's getting harder to live alone in Kentucky, financially and mentally. We all know cost of living continues to increase. And I desperately miss my family and friends. My grandparents are getting older and more frail, and I'm terrified I will miss the last chapter of their lives. I also didn't realize just how much I would miss the sound of the ocean and seeing the mountains of home. The toll it's taken on my mental health has made it so hard to function and work toward my personal and professional goals.

If you made it this far, I know times are tough for everyone. And there are so many who have it much harder than me, but if you are able anything helps.