Help Me Become More Independent!

Hello there, my name is Camper Manning, i am a 22 year old trans girl from Northern Stateline Illinois struggling to gain independence in her life for the first time.

About a year ago i dropped out of art school up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after a bout of really difficult mental health issues i was struggling with, including severe depression, anxiety, difficulty focusing, and a suicide attempt. I stayed for a little bit afterwards but quickly the reality struck that my condition wasn't going to get better simply by not being in school and i could barely handle the prospect of having a job at the time and the loan money i took out for rent was gonna run out eventually.

So I realized i couldn't make it on my own in Minneapolis, and...i moved back home. It was the only option i had where i could attempt to recover from my mental illnesses with not a whole lot of pressure on me. It didn't really help much, as instead of being mentally ill but moving forward i was mentally ill and isolated in my room, with no real friends physically near me.

I got some therapy which i am still going through, thankfully my dad's insurance from working on the parts line at a factory has granted me that. But that is naturally a very slow process in helping me with my problems, and i'm struggling with the medications i'm recommended not really working for me, or having unwanted side effects so i have to quit them. My mental health is a biiiit up and down is what i'm getting at.

After a year of basically sitting around the house uncertain of what I'd do with my life, how I was going to achieve it, or if i was going to be able to at all I decided to begin searching for jobs. I mean yeah i didn't think i could do one a year ago and nothing really changed since then but now i live at home with not much to lose if i had to quit. After about two months of searching i landed an interview at a nearby Steak N Shake and was hired the day i went for that. Currently i've just completed my first week of training and i'm doing much better than expected!

However there's one problem.

You see, currently i rely on my family for any and all transport. Before i had a job i often didn't even leave the house for a week at a time because i don't have a car of my own (dad sold it when i left for college) and my family is all incredibly busy so the ride to even run errands can be completely nonexistent as an option. I'd take the bus, but public transport here is sort of a mess, and it can be something like 90 minutes to get to a place that is barely even 15 minutes away by car. That's not really reliable for a job, nor sensible for me, if i were to work anything other than part time, and even part time it's a bit risky. And Uber rides will drain my wallet incredibly fast.

So i'm asking for help, to get the startings of a used car in motion. I'm not in need of much, just the ability to get a down payment, the vehicle registered, and any other starting things such a vehicle needs. I'm going cheap, i just want to be mobile. To be able to say i can drive myself to my own job whenever i need to, and to be able to be less limited in the hours I can take since i wouldn't be relying on others to make the transport happen. Any excess funds will be put back so i can have some extra for insurance or maintaining it if needed, maybe a larger down payment so the monthly payments aren't as much of an issue.

Now i can probably save this up myself, but it'd take a lot more time than i'd like with me working part-time at $9/hr. That could be months piggybacking on family or being stuck taking Uber rides when i get off on a night shift or have to go in early because that's when they need a hostess. If you help me out i will be incredibly, incredibly grateful. I've really never asked for help like this before. I always thought my problems were stuff i could solve on my own, and maybe they are. But knowing that there are people willing to help me move forward with my life and extend that hand? It'd mean a lot.
The sooner i can get this figured out, is the sooner i can not have to put a larger chunk of my paycheck that could go to other savings or life things, into saving for a car. The sooner i can do things like visit friends in other cities or just get out of the house more, which would be a huge step for my mental  health. The sooner i can have my long-distance partner in town knowing we wouldn't just be sticking to my place without any transport.

It's a major step for me and i'm hoping this will snowball into bigger and better things for me. Thank you very much for reading this, and even more so if you're able to donate.