Fund Raiser for the Cooksey Family
Donation protected
Sometimes in your life, if you're lucky, you have the privilege of meeting, knowing and loving some incredible people that change you, inspire you, support you and love you back. Christopher, Faith and their two beautiful daughters are some of the most incredible people I've ever known.
The Backstory
My name is Jenna and the Cooksey family is one such family to me and that I am so thankful to call my friends. When I was very ill (Cancer and multiple complications) a few years ago, the Cooksey family helped me when I needed it the most. Christopher is an independent film director, writer and artist who I happened to meet at a film makers gathering. I am a makeup and Special FX artist and during my second bout with cancer I was financially, emotionally and mentally strained. Christopher offered me the opportunity to do makeup and fx for his true labor of love film, "The Quantum Terror". This experience helped me financially, artistically, and gave me some inspiration and things to look forward to during my fight. Having a great, strong, and positive support team was imperative for me to fight and win. Christopher and his family were such crucial ingredients in my success and selflessly supported me. Unfortunately, recently the Cooksey family has been financially strained due life events, and victims of a company that was blatantly dishonest and took money from them. I want to do everything I can to help and support them as they did me. I asked Christopher the details of what had happened and its all things that could happen to any of us.
The Events - In Christopher's Words
"I'm not sure where to begin. We were too trusting and it bit us in the butt. We had always had good experiences renting homes sight unseen when we had to move to another state. Thinking this time would be no different we were horrified to learn that there was a good reason why we were being rushed into signing a lease. When I unexpectedly got an opportunity to inspect the property, before I moved in, I found that the real estate photos had been strategically angled to hide graffiti on the premises, peeling paint, and carpets stained by what looked like animal feces. It turns out that the state of the house was reflective of the neighborhood. I drove past strip clubs, gang members, and run down tagged up buildings.
When I confronted the leasing company about this, they admitted that they were aware of the condition of the house. I told them that the house was reflective of the neighborhood and if we had been aware of the true condition of the home, we would have never have signed. We refused to move our children into such an environment. Their answer was pretty much "too bad so sad" they were keeping our $2,400.00. We had no legal recourse.
Borrowing and opening up lines of credit to scrape together every last penny we could, we got another rental but at the cost of leaving us we nothing left. It was either that or be homeless. A few days later Faith's mother, the woman who raised her and was so supportive of us for so long, died in Katy, Texas. Emotionally it was another huge blow to an already very scary week. We also now have to worry about the expenses that will come with traveling to attend her funeral. I can't ask my wife to not go to her own mother's funeral.
This experience has been a terrible one with a very expensive lesson learned. We relied too much on the rental company being honest, we were too trusting, and we were overall fools. We've spent all year building up to a point where we could provide a better life for our children, years before that working our butts off to get out of the red, and instead were taken for every last penny we had. We are people of our word. We will pay back our debts but it's going to leave us struggling for a long time to come. I'm so stunned by the experience that I'm now at a complete loss what to do next. "
How Can I Help
I felt so badly for their family and has no clue how I could possibly help them. This is where a Go Gund Me Fundraiser made perfect sense. I am hoping to raise enough for the Cooksey Family to recover what they have lost and hopefully help to raise money for Faith's Mother's funeral. If at all possible please consider donating to help this incredible Family and if we can raise more than the goal, even better!! Every little bit counts and helps exponentially!
Thank you all from the bottom of my Heart!!
Jenna
The Backstory
My name is Jenna and the Cooksey family is one such family to me and that I am so thankful to call my friends. When I was very ill (Cancer and multiple complications) a few years ago, the Cooksey family helped me when I needed it the most. Christopher is an independent film director, writer and artist who I happened to meet at a film makers gathering. I am a makeup and Special FX artist and during my second bout with cancer I was financially, emotionally and mentally strained. Christopher offered me the opportunity to do makeup and fx for his true labor of love film, "The Quantum Terror". This experience helped me financially, artistically, and gave me some inspiration and things to look forward to during my fight. Having a great, strong, and positive support team was imperative for me to fight and win. Christopher and his family were such crucial ingredients in my success and selflessly supported me. Unfortunately, recently the Cooksey family has been financially strained due life events, and victims of a company that was blatantly dishonest and took money from them. I want to do everything I can to help and support them as they did me. I asked Christopher the details of what had happened and its all things that could happen to any of us.
The Events - In Christopher's Words
"I'm not sure where to begin. We were too trusting and it bit us in the butt. We had always had good experiences renting homes sight unseen when we had to move to another state. Thinking this time would be no different we were horrified to learn that there was a good reason why we were being rushed into signing a lease. When I unexpectedly got an opportunity to inspect the property, before I moved in, I found that the real estate photos had been strategically angled to hide graffiti on the premises, peeling paint, and carpets stained by what looked like animal feces. It turns out that the state of the house was reflective of the neighborhood. I drove past strip clubs, gang members, and run down tagged up buildings.
When I confronted the leasing company about this, they admitted that they were aware of the condition of the house. I told them that the house was reflective of the neighborhood and if we had been aware of the true condition of the home, we would have never have signed. We refused to move our children into such an environment. Their answer was pretty much "too bad so sad" they were keeping our $2,400.00. We had no legal recourse.
Borrowing and opening up lines of credit to scrape together every last penny we could, we got another rental but at the cost of leaving us we nothing left. It was either that or be homeless. A few days later Faith's mother, the woman who raised her and was so supportive of us for so long, died in Katy, Texas. Emotionally it was another huge blow to an already very scary week. We also now have to worry about the expenses that will come with traveling to attend her funeral. I can't ask my wife to not go to her own mother's funeral.
This experience has been a terrible one with a very expensive lesson learned. We relied too much on the rental company being honest, we were too trusting, and we were overall fools. We've spent all year building up to a point where we could provide a better life for our children, years before that working our butts off to get out of the red, and instead were taken for every last penny we had. We are people of our word. We will pay back our debts but it's going to leave us struggling for a long time to come. I'm so stunned by the experience that I'm now at a complete loss what to do next. "
How Can I Help
I felt so badly for their family and has no clue how I could possibly help them. This is where a Go Gund Me Fundraiser made perfect sense. I am hoping to raise enough for the Cooksey Family to recover what they have lost and hopefully help to raise money for Faith's Mother's funeral. If at all possible please consider donating to help this incredible Family and if we can raise more than the goal, even better!! Every little bit counts and helps exponentially!
Thank you all from the bottom of my Heart!!
Jenna
Organizer
Jenna Green
Organizer
Buda, TX
