The Keep Disaster At Bay Fund
Donation protected
Our Situation: We're a retired military family. He's currently working a temp job in tech support with a local hospital and I'm a self employed comic flatter, author and ebook support specialist. I am also a member of the Brotherton Tribe. =^-^=
For years we've been living hand to mouth while paying for a mortgage *and* a place to live. I've had to work literally morning and night to help make ends meet. But we were at least sort of making it. But I've been working so hard I've gained over 100 lbs and my daughter decided I was a horrible parent for working so hard to make sure she's fed - and off she went to live with her father.
Now? We have the house, we no longer have to pay for two places to live... we don't have enough of an income because my husband was medically retired.
The resources with the VA, the programs, the help that we were promised? When we found ourselves suddenly having to turn to these things, we were told, "Our funds are limited." This fantastic wealth of help the public is given to think veterans have turned out to be a piggy bank, a very small one. They did try to help us: they paid our cell phone, our water, and our gas for one month. And that was it, there was no more. We're talked to about weight loss and PTSD and the unemployment agency talked down to my husband when the army disputed his claim. That's the help we've gotten. Thank you for your service, indeed.
We've had to pawn things just to buy animal food. One of our cats broke his leg. We had to set it ourselves and hope he didn't die. (He didn't.)
We're staring losing everything in the face. I'm talking everything we've been building all these years, planning for the day he retired.
We have to wait up to 90 days for a letter from the VA to arrive in the mail to get those benefits going. (November 28, 2014. We're still waiting. It's getting past 90 days now.)
My husband's temporary pension is less than half the mortgage payment. His final pay was shorted.
And so on, so on, so on...
The finances: We actually have our output to a minimum. We'd been working hard to pay off credit cards and throw them away before he retired. We managed to pay one. The others are, well, behind. And it's sad because they're not even large debts. $15 a month type deal.
My student loans are now in arrears.
By November 13, the house payment was 34 days behind and the mortgage company is refused a partial payment. As I stated before, the VA helped us with little bills; the total amounted to about $300 dollars. That was all they said they could do. My measley income isn't enough to do anything more than buy food.
We were blocked from unemployment because the army said my husband was unable to work. (That has been handled AFTER my husband got a job, so we received $300 whopping dollars... of all that money he paid in for that "insurance" over the years.)
We need help desperately. If it's only a Facebook or twitter share to others, help is help. $5 would help. A box of food in the mail would help. It's the best way you could honestly "thank us for our service".
The pets: We have a lot of cats and three dogs. (Edit: We now have two. One found a happy home in California!) Most of the cats aren't mine. Two are fosters for a soldier who is finally coming home to get them back. And three are mine - Spook, Ra, and Scalleywag.
Ra was actually my daughter's cat and they literally grew up together. Spook's mother was poisoned when she was a milk baby and Spook literally thinks I'm her mother. Scalleywag was going to the pound and my husband saved her despite me saying otherwise.
The three dogs are Loki, Diamond, and Hoshi. Loki was on the side of the road with his siblings and literally crawled into my shirt, so he had to come home. Diamond and Hoshi came here a few months ago with my husband's little brother, who soon realized dogs are a lot of work and abandoned them. Diamond has been looking for a forever home that can afford to get her spayed all this time. (I can handle two dogs, not three.) Hoshi and Loki need to be neutered, but it's not happening with the other drama going on.
As of the day after Thanksgiving, Diamond just went into her first heat putting the situation very dire for her. Dogs will literally tear things apart to get laid. I've seen a dog dig up a very large fence post to get into the yard for it. This isn't any simple matter. Our house is damaged enough as it is.
The House: I've taken down all the pictures, because people don't care. Let me sum up: the piping is all bad. It needs rewiring. The deck is rotting off and can't be walked on. There are five widowmaker dead trees waiting to happen. And more.
For years we've been living hand to mouth while paying for a mortgage *and* a place to live. I've had to work literally morning and night to help make ends meet. But we were at least sort of making it. But I've been working so hard I've gained over 100 lbs and my daughter decided I was a horrible parent for working so hard to make sure she's fed - and off she went to live with her father.
Now? We have the house, we no longer have to pay for two places to live... we don't have enough of an income because my husband was medically retired.
The resources with the VA, the programs, the help that we were promised? When we found ourselves suddenly having to turn to these things, we were told, "Our funds are limited." This fantastic wealth of help the public is given to think veterans have turned out to be a piggy bank, a very small one. They did try to help us: they paid our cell phone, our water, and our gas for one month. And that was it, there was no more. We're talked to about weight loss and PTSD and the unemployment agency talked down to my husband when the army disputed his claim. That's the help we've gotten. Thank you for your service, indeed.
We've had to pawn things just to buy animal food. One of our cats broke his leg. We had to set it ourselves and hope he didn't die. (He didn't.)
We're staring losing everything in the face. I'm talking everything we've been building all these years, planning for the day he retired.
We have to wait up to 90 days for a letter from the VA to arrive in the mail to get those benefits going. (November 28, 2014. We're still waiting. It's getting past 90 days now.)
My husband's temporary pension is less than half the mortgage payment. His final pay was shorted.
And so on, so on, so on...
The finances: We actually have our output to a minimum. We'd been working hard to pay off credit cards and throw them away before he retired. We managed to pay one. The others are, well, behind. And it's sad because they're not even large debts. $15 a month type deal.
My student loans are now in arrears.
By November 13, the house payment was 34 days behind and the mortgage company is refused a partial payment. As I stated before, the VA helped us with little bills; the total amounted to about $300 dollars. That was all they said they could do. My measley income isn't enough to do anything more than buy food.
We were blocked from unemployment because the army said my husband was unable to work. (That has been handled AFTER my husband got a job, so we received $300 whopping dollars... of all that money he paid in for that "insurance" over the years.)
We need help desperately. If it's only a Facebook or twitter share to others, help is help. $5 would help. A box of food in the mail would help. It's the best way you could honestly "thank us for our service".
The pets: We have a lot of cats and three dogs. (Edit: We now have two. One found a happy home in California!) Most of the cats aren't mine. Two are fosters for a soldier who is finally coming home to get them back. And three are mine - Spook, Ra, and Scalleywag.
Ra was actually my daughter's cat and they literally grew up together. Spook's mother was poisoned when she was a milk baby and Spook literally thinks I'm her mother. Scalleywag was going to the pound and my husband saved her despite me saying otherwise.
The three dogs are Loki, Diamond, and Hoshi. Loki was on the side of the road with his siblings and literally crawled into my shirt, so he had to come home. Diamond and Hoshi came here a few months ago with my husband's little brother, who soon realized dogs are a lot of work and abandoned them. Diamond has been looking for a forever home that can afford to get her spayed all this time. (I can handle two dogs, not three.) Hoshi and Loki need to be neutered, but it's not happening with the other drama going on.
As of the day after Thanksgiving, Diamond just went into her first heat putting the situation very dire for her. Dogs will literally tear things apart to get laid. I've seen a dog dig up a very large fence post to get into the yard for it. This isn't any simple matter. Our house is damaged enough as it is.
The House: I've taken down all the pictures, because people don't care. Let me sum up: the piping is all bad. It needs rewiring. The deck is rotting off and can't be walked on. There are five widowmaker dead trees waiting to happen. And more.
Organizer
Katrina Joyner
Organizer
Harrisburg, IL
