Hi, my name is Deidrah. I am a determined and grateful mom who is trying to navigate the housing crisis in a non-traditional way, and I am at a point where I need help. In short, I adopted an abandoned house in lieu of trying to find a 3-bedroom apartment for me and my kids. In this process, I have been able to help an extension of my family and build community in this space. I knew there would be some financial challenges, however, they are more abundant and pressing than I initially realized. I want to just share a little about my experience and why I am requesting help at this time. I work full time, I have a part time job and 27 side hustles. I have been trying to find more projects and get more work, however, being honest with myself and being a mom I cannot possibly fit more in. I grew up an only child to a single mom in poverty. I lived in subsidized housing for most of my childhood, exceptions being when we were homeless or stayed with family. It was always a struggle. I remember one winter sleeping in a Chevy S 10 with our cat and a guinea pig, trying to find a place to shower so I could go to school. When I learned I was pregnant with my first child, despite being on birth control, I knew I was going to have to work hard and change some things. I now have 3 kids, and I have earned a good job. We have experienced some pretty difficult challenges, one of the biggest was when my youngest was born at 31 weeks. She then was in the NICU for 2 months, and through that experience folks really showed up to help which was wonderful. It helped me realize that sometimes it is ok to ask for help. My youngest, now almost 3, has elevated lead levels. It is related to this house, and I was not well educated on lead paint. I always heard about it, but thought someone had to eat paint chips to be affected. While she was not eating paint chips, there is lead dust related to deteriorating paint on the porch and in the home. This needs to be remediated. I have been urgently looking for grants and loans, as I have grantwriting experience and I am resourceful in solving my own problems. There is one grant we would qualify for, however it is a reimbursement grant and the lead must be totally abated and the home must be insured for us to be able to use this resource. I have fought for this home. I have invested 10K of my own money, hundreds of hours of labor, and essentially petitioned the City Council to acquire the building. I anticipated that I would have more options for funding/grants/rental income, however, I am not able to accrue the needed funds in a timely fashion. You might not have an experience of being homeless as a child. You might not understand how deeply I fear being homeless with my children now. But I think you may have had feelings of insecurity related to housing, or a time when you felt overwhelmed by a challenge. I am reaching out because I think this problem is bigger than what I can reasonably solve. Unless a private loan comes out of the wood work, we will be unable to stay here much longer. I have applied for HELOC, and other loans. Because I have been paying off my outstanding cards and I closed them through credit counseling for 6 months, I essentially have bad credit. I pay my bills, and if a private lender is interested in a loan vs. a gift I am happy to work with that as well to get the projects done. I hope you consider donating to this fundraiser, it would make a world of difference in getting these projects off the ground and help us make this the home it should be. Here is a list of outstanding projects to be completed: Lead Remediation (including replacing all the windows as the sashes have lead in them) Roof Replacement Basement Reinforcement and insulation, gutter installation and fixing the negative grading around the home and garage My initial goal would cover the Lead Inspector Course, materials for the porch to be stable, and a portion of the roofing materials. I have a volunteer crew who can do the roofing itself, and I am open to people who want to take on specific projects as well just message. A small donation $5-$10 can be used towards a can of spray foam for the attic, a paintbrush, or cleaning supplies. A medium donation $10-$100 can be used towards shingles, ice and water, the special paint needed to lead occlusion. Larger donations will go towards windows (Anderson quoted 3K per window, I am hoping to find a better deal but this might be it), porch repairs, structural reinforcements.
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