Hello, my name is Zoe and I’m fundraising to cover my rent, and other bills.

A little over a year ago, I moved from Michigan to California after volunteering for a summer camp for trans and gender-diverse children. I made this move due to realizing how much weight I held in Michigan from major losses of my family and friends from coming out as transgender and other unfortunate situations, and wanting to move forward and pursue a better life for myself. From volunteering at the summer camp, I had made numerous connections in California and through them found work as a field instructor at a science camp for 4th - 6th graders for the school year, and then worked as a lead educator at a STEM day camp over the summer, all in the Bay Area.

These positions were very impactful to me and gave me a lot of confidence in myself and my abilities. Being able to educate and empower my students was awesome to witness. However, due to their seasonal nature, I was constantly worried about where I would be living next and where my next position would be. A friend of mine in LA had a living opportunity with him open up that was a better situation than I was currently in, and after having visited LA multiple times, I felt like LA could be my home long-term. So, I decided to move to LA. I began job searching and have been focused on job searching since then.

When I had initially moved in, I believed that I would have been able to secure a job by this point. I had had several interviews before moving to the LA area, and it seemed promising that I would be able to find something that could pay my bills in time to make ends meet.

To complicate things further, I had some events happen in the last year that reduced how much I was able to save for this situation. This included a chronic health issue that caused me to be unable to walk much and resulted in surgery in January, making me miss quite a bit of work, and unexpected automotive repairs that were needed just before moving to LA.

However, I am at a loss for what has happened in my job search. I am to the point where I am unsure how I will be able to pay my bills in the coming weeks, and my finances have gotten to a point of desperation. I am actively job hunting, reaching out to resources to help myself, and pursuing any other way to make ends meet. But I'm in a position where I do need help.

If you donate, these funds will only be used to pay my rent, utilities, and monthly bills.