Hi, I'm Joshua - the little-guy in our family photo. For the Perry Family, things have never been easy: we've always scraped by with what always seemed to be little more than our smiles.
I haven't had much to smile about in the past few years.
Our dad, Richard, passed away in 2009 from Colo-Rectal Cancer after battling it for 5 long years; after his battle, our own began. Medical bills pushed our already difficult financial situation into even worse territory: Heeding my father's wishes, I went off to college, dumpster-diving for food and scrap metal to make it by while I was away from home. Meanwhile my two brothers, Mike and Nathan; and my sister, Jessica tried their own equally difficult paths.
My brother Mike also tried getting a degree, we were always told that education was the path towards bettering ourselves. However, due to financial strains, the Universities we went to kicked us out - Michael being a year away from his Bachelors and I being only a semester away from my own.
Our mother, Cindy, sold our house in a desperate attempt to pay overdue bills and My mom, my brother, his wife, and I moved into an apartment just outside of Rochester, NY. While we all tried getting work, my mom fell to the difficult stress and ran away: I haven't heard from her in months, I don't know where she is or if she's even still alive.
Unable to pay rent: We were served an eviction notice today; we have three days to leave our apartment. My brother and sister can't take the three of us in so in 72 hours, Mike, Laura (his wife), our 2 dogs, and I will be homeless.
We have no money and we're selling anything we can to get a new home. If you could help us, it might just give a rundown family something to smile about again.
Organizer and beneficiary
Laura Perry
Beneficiary

