Help Me Avoid Eviction This Christmas
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I am facing eviction. I was trying my best to find a way to avoid it and thus far there are no reasonable resources to help me do so, so I am coming to you with a plea for help.
I am approaching my final semester at Guilford College this Spring, where I should be graduating with a 3.6-3.7 GPA, with just two classes outstanding. Through much of my college career I have used loans and scholarships to pay my way but basically all of my financial aid has dried up and the one scholarship I have will not quite pay for my final classes. I am intending to get a Masters, as well, which will open me up to new sources of financial aid but this final span is a major gap in my ability to make my plans come to fruition.
I am actively seeking a job but it feels really hopeless right now. It took a lot of work to finish my last semester (which included a major project focused around my own personal experience of poverty!) and that was making the already hard job search even harder to focus on. I’m intending to put my all into finally finding something but even with that, I will need a leg up to stay in my apartment. A while back, for a small span of time I did find a job, which I was trying my best to make the most of, only to be given less and less and ultimately no hours and essentially dismissed without anyone at the business willing to give me cause or even specifically tell me that I had been let go.
In the time since I’ve been without a job (as well as during and before, actually), I’ve been doing a great deal of positive community service work, much of it revolving around helping homeless folks, both as a weekly volunteer at the Interactive Resource Center’s Food Not Bombs meal and working alongside the Homeless Union of Greensboro. I would say that I have not been lazy in this time but the work I’ve been doing, while it pays in pride, doesn’t in the sort of dollars and cents that makes a difference in keeping a roof over my head.
I’m told I have a pending court date of January 7th and that by January 17th I need to pay my debts in full to avoid eviction. My current debt is 1250 and by January that will rise to 1750. My previous experiences make me think that I could likely come to an intermediary payment that would delay this but that is not something I’ve been assured of. Between hopefully finding work soon, a small payment for a gig I was given by a teacher and your help, I’m hoping to be able to make it work but I’m in a real full bore crisis as we speak.
At the risk of overselling my situation, because surely so many have it worse: I have autism spectrum issues that make me, I think, a hard initial sell when it comes to finding jobs, as well as being non-binary, not always having the most presentable wardrobe for interviews (way too many of my nicer pants have holes at this point :( ) and currently lacking a functional personal ID (it was lost with a wallet months ago and I haven’t had the ability or money to get a new one). I also don’t drive, a decision I made based on many factors I won’t get into here but is likely for the best for all involved, other than the fact that many jobs look down on that fact, even if I am able to get to work without.
I do not have family that can help more than nominally nor currently do I have access to non-personal loans without a co-signer, of which I do not have. I don’t have family in the area or anywhere close. If I can just get through this, there is no reason I cannot return to living reasonably on my own and without further crisis. It’s been a tough time for me and it’s especially frustrating for this to be coming to a head in the holiday season. I have reached out to every agency in town that handles these sorts of issues, like the Housing Authority, Urban Ministry and Salvation Army without luck. So… as much as I know everyone is likely tapped to the last of their abilities right now, I am really, frustratingly and deeply in need of help.
I understand if you can’t give - a share would be lovely as well.
I am approaching my final semester at Guilford College this Spring, where I should be graduating with a 3.6-3.7 GPA, with just two classes outstanding. Through much of my college career I have used loans and scholarships to pay my way but basically all of my financial aid has dried up and the one scholarship I have will not quite pay for my final classes. I am intending to get a Masters, as well, which will open me up to new sources of financial aid but this final span is a major gap in my ability to make my plans come to fruition.
I am actively seeking a job but it feels really hopeless right now. It took a lot of work to finish my last semester (which included a major project focused around my own personal experience of poverty!) and that was making the already hard job search even harder to focus on. I’m intending to put my all into finally finding something but even with that, I will need a leg up to stay in my apartment. A while back, for a small span of time I did find a job, which I was trying my best to make the most of, only to be given less and less and ultimately no hours and essentially dismissed without anyone at the business willing to give me cause or even specifically tell me that I had been let go.
In the time since I’ve been without a job (as well as during and before, actually), I’ve been doing a great deal of positive community service work, much of it revolving around helping homeless folks, both as a weekly volunteer at the Interactive Resource Center’s Food Not Bombs meal and working alongside the Homeless Union of Greensboro. I would say that I have not been lazy in this time but the work I’ve been doing, while it pays in pride, doesn’t in the sort of dollars and cents that makes a difference in keeping a roof over my head.
I’m told I have a pending court date of January 7th and that by January 17th I need to pay my debts in full to avoid eviction. My current debt is 1250 and by January that will rise to 1750. My previous experiences make me think that I could likely come to an intermediary payment that would delay this but that is not something I’ve been assured of. Between hopefully finding work soon, a small payment for a gig I was given by a teacher and your help, I’m hoping to be able to make it work but I’m in a real full bore crisis as we speak.
At the risk of overselling my situation, because surely so many have it worse: I have autism spectrum issues that make me, I think, a hard initial sell when it comes to finding jobs, as well as being non-binary, not always having the most presentable wardrobe for interviews (way too many of my nicer pants have holes at this point :( ) and currently lacking a functional personal ID (it was lost with a wallet months ago and I haven’t had the ability or money to get a new one). I also don’t drive, a decision I made based on many factors I won’t get into here but is likely for the best for all involved, other than the fact that many jobs look down on that fact, even if I am able to get to work without.
I do not have family that can help more than nominally nor currently do I have access to non-personal loans without a co-signer, of which I do not have. I don’t have family in the area or anywhere close. If I can just get through this, there is no reason I cannot return to living reasonably on my own and without further crisis. It’s been a tough time for me and it’s especially frustrating for this to be coming to a head in the holiday season. I have reached out to every agency in town that handles these sorts of issues, like the Housing Authority, Urban Ministry and Salvation Army without luck. So… as much as I know everyone is likely tapped to the last of their abilities right now, I am really, frustratingly and deeply in need of help.
I understand if you can’t give - a share would be lovely as well.
Organizer
Ryan Tardiff
Organizer
Greensboro, NC
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