Help keep us from becoming homeless
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My name is Rich. I live in Dallas, Texas, with my husband, James, to whom I have been married for 12 years. During that time, we've had years of Plenty and years of Lean. The past 3 years have put us through extremes of Lean, and now are threatening to put us literally on the street. Although we have managed, until now, to struggle through, we no longer have the financial, mental, or emotional resources to face our newest challenge, which is the biggest yet.
James works as a computer network engineer, and his income is enough to support us. I stay at home and keep house; I also receive monthly disability payments from the Veterans Administration.
In early December 2014, James's employer laid him off. While many employers post job openings during December, very few of them hire anyone during December because of the holiday season. Also, I spent the first week of 2015 in the hospital. For these and other reasons, it took more than 3 months before James was able to find work. When he did, it was through a temp agency. After a few months, that temp assignment ended, and he found another assignment fairly quickly. Near the end of the year, we finally we were within one or two paychecks of getting caught up on everything.
And then it happened again.
In early December 2015, James got laid off. It took roughly 3 months for him to find new work. Once he did, we struggled to catch up with everything, and we were **almost** there.
And then it happened again.
In October 2016, James got laid off. This time, it took only a month and a half to find a new job, because he wasn't searching during the holiday season. Even so, we had to struggle to get caught up. We were about halfway there.
Wait for it..........
And then it happened AGAIN!!
James has experienced chronic migraine headaches for most of his life. For several years, they were less intense, but starting last summer, they started getting worse again.
Two weeks ago, James had a severe migraine--the worst of his life. After it ended, he was dizzy, and his eyes had trouble focusing. In addition, it was almost impossible for him to concentrate. These symptoms continued for several days, getting worse the whole time.
I took him to the emergency room, and the doctor told us the problem was a severe tension headache. Obviously, this makes sense, given everything that's happened. They treated him and he started feeling better.
We got home from the ER at 6:00 a.m. James told his boss about the ER, and said he needed to miss one more day of work to finish recovering. That afternoon, the company's Human Resources department called. He was fired. For being sick.
As if all of that were not bad enough, the VA made a clerical error with my disability payments. Just as we lost James's income, the VA informed me that I will not receive my payments for the next 4 months. In other words, we now have no income at all. Nothing.
We have no savings left. My disability payments are gone, short-term. James has applied for unemployment benefits, but even if they are approved, the amount will be less than half of what he was making, and he still wouldn't get anything for at least three weeks.
This is our last hope. Asking for help in this way feels humiliating, but we're out of options and out of time. We are asking for 3 months of living expenses, plus a little extra to help cover the fees. That should keep a roof over our heads long enough for James to find work again. We need a minimum of $2,000 by May 1 so we can pay rent and buy groceries.
If it takes the full 3 months to fund the entire goal, we can live with that, since we'll be paying as we go, anyway. It would be wonderful, though, to see the entire goal funded within a month, since that will reduce James's stress levels significantly, which will make the job search much easier.
If the job search goes better than expected, and we are left with campaign funds that we don't need, we will donate the excess to Resource Center , a charity benefiting the LGBTQ and HIV communities of Greater Dallas.
James works as a computer network engineer, and his income is enough to support us. I stay at home and keep house; I also receive monthly disability payments from the Veterans Administration.
In early December 2014, James's employer laid him off. While many employers post job openings during December, very few of them hire anyone during December because of the holiday season. Also, I spent the first week of 2015 in the hospital. For these and other reasons, it took more than 3 months before James was able to find work. When he did, it was through a temp agency. After a few months, that temp assignment ended, and he found another assignment fairly quickly. Near the end of the year, we finally we were within one or two paychecks of getting caught up on everything.
And then it happened again.
In early December 2015, James got laid off. It took roughly 3 months for him to find new work. Once he did, we struggled to catch up with everything, and we were **almost** there.
And then it happened again.
In October 2016, James got laid off. This time, it took only a month and a half to find a new job, because he wasn't searching during the holiday season. Even so, we had to struggle to get caught up. We were about halfway there.
Wait for it..........
And then it happened AGAIN!!
James has experienced chronic migraine headaches for most of his life. For several years, they were less intense, but starting last summer, they started getting worse again.
Two weeks ago, James had a severe migraine--the worst of his life. After it ended, he was dizzy, and his eyes had trouble focusing. In addition, it was almost impossible for him to concentrate. These symptoms continued for several days, getting worse the whole time.
I took him to the emergency room, and the doctor told us the problem was a severe tension headache. Obviously, this makes sense, given everything that's happened. They treated him and he started feeling better.
We got home from the ER at 6:00 a.m. James told his boss about the ER, and said he needed to miss one more day of work to finish recovering. That afternoon, the company's Human Resources department called. He was fired. For being sick.
As if all of that were not bad enough, the VA made a clerical error with my disability payments. Just as we lost James's income, the VA informed me that I will not receive my payments for the next 4 months. In other words, we now have no income at all. Nothing.
We have no savings left. My disability payments are gone, short-term. James has applied for unemployment benefits, but even if they are approved, the amount will be less than half of what he was making, and he still wouldn't get anything for at least three weeks.
This is our last hope. Asking for help in this way feels humiliating, but we're out of options and out of time. We are asking for 3 months of living expenses, plus a little extra to help cover the fees. That should keep a roof over our heads long enough for James to find work again. We need a minimum of $2,000 by May 1 so we can pay rent and buy groceries.
If it takes the full 3 months to fund the entire goal, we can live with that, since we'll be paying as we go, anyway. It would be wonderful, though, to see the entire goal funded within a month, since that will reduce James's stress levels significantly, which will make the job search much easier.
If the job search goes better than expected, and we are left with campaign funds that we don't need, we will donate the excess to Resource Center , a charity benefiting the LGBTQ and HIV communities of Greater Dallas.
Organizer
Rich Macy-Simpson
Organizer
Dallas, TX
