Main fundraiser photo

Urgent Assistance for Van Repair

Donation protected
My beautiful van was stolen and vandalized a few months ago. I got it back but the windows were smashed, tires slashed, and the side and lights are smashed in. (See updates for pics of the damage). It was a senseless act and I’m sad for the lost teens who would do something so destructive. There’s a police report on file because it was found left in the street by the police but there’s nothing to gain for anyone by pursuing legal action against the underage teens from out of town who did this. Instead my neighbors addressed it in community based direct action. I tried my best to get my insurance to pay for even part of it but they were useless since it wasn’t in an accident. I had saved up and bought the locally customized van as an investment to use with my kids for camping and traveling and then sell when needed. It’s a ‘96 Ford that originally had a wheelchair lift for a disabled person and had only 60k miles on it, meticulous maintenance records and a beautifully custom built interior of locally milled sustainably harvested fallen cedar and salvaged barn shingles by a local surfboard maker. We LOVE this van. We also live in a high fire, flood, earthquake, and tsunami risk area and I had stocked the van to be our safe getaway vehicle if there’s a disaster, so it’s also important for peace of mind.

I hate asking but I’m tapped out after an expensive couple of years and losing so much income during quarantine drained my savings and both me and my daughter having medical issues. If you can spare anything or just share, I’d really appreciate it. I run and teach in my small home preschool with two of my daughters and do my best to support our community in the form of providing small scale quality early education to families on a sliding scale, helping our neighborhood of The Beach Flats thrive, advocating for children and low income people, and give to other crowdfunding where I can.

I just want to get it drivable again because we have a heavily enforced parking permit system and when it starts for the summer I’ll get absolutely drowned in parking tickets if I can’t get it smogged (fees are all paid but the smog has expired since the incident), and the permit office requires complete registration to get a valid permit to park here. So my goal is just windows and tires and I just made up a number for estimated costs. I can live with the dents for now. I’d also happily and gratefully accept any donation of labor or offer to find parts at a salvage yard or any good advice. I’m honestly just overwhelmed by the whole thing and have stagnated a bit on it but I’m running out of time.

Thank you for any help at all!!
Donate

Donations 

    Donate

    Organizer

    Una Baer
    Organizer
    Santa Cruz, CA

    Your easy, powerful, and trusted home for help

    • Easy

      Donate quickly and easily

    • Powerful

      Send help right to the people and causes you care about

    • Trusted

      Your donation is protected by the GoFundMe Giving Guarantee