Urgent Help needed for Antonio (Benedict)'s Family

Hello,

My name is Antonio, but many folks know me by my nickname Benedict. You may or may not know that my family has been struggling enormously over the past year. Approximately a year ago, I got what I would consider my dream job, a mostly remote high-level IT position with Mesa Community College. I was good at my job, my boss and coworkers liked me a lot, I was crushing tickets and doing amazing work. I was using the opportunity of tuition waivers to go back to school to pick up an additional degree. Everything was looking up for the first time in a long time. Then the college notified me that I was being laid off. There had been a number of budget irregularities, and the anticipated work for my department had dried up, so there was really no real need for my position. Everyone was very sad to see me go, and the college gave me a generous severance, but it was a real blow.

Over the next year, I spent my time split evenly between trying to find some kind of side hustle to keep money coming in, putting out 50-100 resumes a week, and raising my two wonderful children. My son is special needs and requires a lot of time and energy, and my daughter is pretty firmly in the tantrum era of being a toddler, so this was a tall order, but I kept on plugging along. Meanwhile, my family, specifically my mom, kept helping us out as needed. After the severance ran out, unemployment wasn't enough to bridge the gap, so mom helped us with bills. At first, I was getting interviews periodically, 2 here, 4 there, and I was able to keep my head high and my spirits up.

In December, the state cut off our food stamps. It turns out there had been a massive clerical error, but by the time it was resolved, we didn't have any groceries for the month, let alone anything for Christmas. I signed the kids up for one of those charity present things so they could at least have a good Christmas and did my best where I could. We got our food stamps back in January, but they turned them off again in February, and it wasn't until March we got them back on. Meanwhile, I lost one of my closest friends in the whole world, and in February, the state canceled my unemployment. I won't be getting unemployment back. To compound matters, my car broke down, costing $500 in parts, and my washing machine also broke, costing $800 for a new one. It completely wiped out any money we had managed to set aside and maxed all our credit cards out.

Though it was a real burden, my mom and my grandmother-in-law stepped up and really helped us out with expenses, and we were able to keep a roof over our heads, but just barely. Then at the start of April, my mom told me that she was no longer going to be able to help us out. The mutual fund she had for her retirement had done some kind of sale of stocks, and while they hadn't given her any money for it, it counted as a taxable debt, and the IRS states that she now owes them an exorbitant amount of money. She's trying to get it resolved, but they are threatening to put a lien on her house, and the mutual fund is saying since they never sent her any money, they can't prove what happened. The long and the short of it is that we can no longer expect any help from our families. We have truly hit rock bottom, and come May first, I fully expect to be homeless if I can't somehow raise enough money for rent. In order to keep a roof over our heads, I have to ask for whatever help I can get.