Hey guys!!!

Just finished dispersing all of the funds we raised from my random In-Home Auction the other week, and thought you’d enjoy hearing who we helped :)

A massive thank you to not only those who donated over their $$$, but also those who took the time to recommend people we should consider helping!

We raised a total of $665 and helped 7 different people/families across this country, as well as struggling families in Guatemala.

I’m still trying to zero in on our exact mission with the Fund, but at the core of it it really is about helping people *directly* in our community here – whether bloggers or readers or any loved ones we know – so I think we accomplished that with this first batch, and it honestly just felt good GETTING IT INTO PEOPLES’ HANDS than sitting there in the account doing nothing!

So that will definitely be a core goal of the Fund for sure – putting the funds to use as fast as possible. Perhaps we’ll also form a team of advisors to help streamline things better and find the most effective way to help, but for now we’re diving in and helping the best we can :)

Here’s everyone we helped with this first batch, anonymized for their privacy except for whose stories were already public.

ALL of these families here need more help than we could give them, so if any of these people so move you, PLEASE consider matching the donations and I’m happy to provide more details!

Community Fund Response 💙 | Batch #1

In the words of those who made the recommendations:

#1. Single mom out of work ($100) — “I have a friend who lives in Miami doing freelance. She is a single mom (2 year old daughter) and hasn’t been able to work much since this whole quarantine started. To top it all off she contracted Covid and has been sick. I helped her pay rent last month and some of her other bills but I’m not sure what she is going to do for May. Her rent is $600 and her other bills run like $400 plus food and what not.”

#2. Desperate families in Guatemala ($200) — “Things are pretty dire in Guatemala. Most people live day to day so the five week ongoing lock down has been brutal. Families are putting white flags on their windows when they are unable to buy food which takes a lot for them because all your neighbors will see, but comes a point where you have to swallow your pride. It’s not like you can go to a food bank a few miles away like in the U.S. $25 helps a family get a care package with basic supplies like oil, beans, corn flour, soap etc.” – Pauline Paquin

#3. Disabled blogger waiting on unemployment ($100) — “I recommend [blogger name] — She’s disabled and can’t work full-time and had been making do by dog sitting which has understandably dried up. She applied for unemployment, but it’s been 6 weeks and nada… She’d kill me if she knew I was advocating on her behalf but isn’t that what friends are for?!”

#4. #3D Printing for Good ($100) — “There is a group of students that my wife and I support who are using 3D printers to print face shields for hospitals, first responders, and others in need including Indian tribes. They could use support to purchase the filament and other supplies to continue this effort. Here are two links about the students and the work that they are doing:

• New Mexico robotics team 3D printing face shields for hospital workers
• Pizza and PPEs: Local robotics team partners with Papa Murphy’s to make deliveries to healthcare workers

Here is their page on how to support them, either financially or by donating supplies. People can also request shields through this same form: #3D Printing for Good”

#5.  Mother who lost her job + dead battery ($50 + $50) — “I would like to be able to help my ex wife out.  She lost her job because of the kids being out of school. It’s only my child support that she receives right now. My car battery is dead so I have been unable to do my side gigs to send her extra money.” (Sent $50 to wife and $50 towards new car battery)

#6. Photographer out of work ($50) — “We have a friend who is a full time photographer and she has been severely impacted by this since she has lost most of her work from mid-March until “whenever”, due to everything being postponed or canceled. Thanks for considering her, I know it would bless her.”

#7. Family who lost home in a freak flood ($50) — “As soon as I saw your tweet, I thought of the Willard family! They are a family of five here in WA state and have a rougher go of it but always manage to keep an upbeat “when life gives you lemons” attitude. Brian is a disabled vet and their youngest child has special needs (a genetic issue that has only 3 diagnosed cases in the world!). They were able to buy their wheelchair accessible dream home last year but, in February, a local dam was released, flooding their home and a dozen others in the (non-flood) area. The house literally has to be gutted and insurance will not cover it, so they are currently attempting to transition into a trailer on the property while they figure out how to rebuild and still pay a mortgage. As you can imagine, Covid-19 has made this even more challenging. Here are some links to the local news coverage and their story!”

• Families return home after Nisqually River flooding
• GoFundMe page: Disabled Army Vet and Family Need Help After Flood

******

Again, if any of these stories move you please consider matching or donating what you can! Just email me and I’ll pass along more details!

In the meantime, we work towards batch #2 and start fundraising again so we can do another round of helping :) If you want to join us, here’s my paypal address! Even $25 helps!

j @ budgets are sexy (dot) com

We still have a few items remaining from our auction last month too, so if you’d like to get something in return for your donations just check out what’s not crossed out and I’m happy to ship them off to you :) We have old school NES games + controllers, an “Icons” magazine package, and then an original business card of mine circa 2009 that also happens to be autographed :) More details and pics here.

Good work, team!!

PS: This fund will continue on even when I retire from this blog here… Working on a new home for it now so we continue The Good!