When your gas gets turned off because you can't pay the bill, the cold showers and no gas for cooking are bad enough. But then the car breaks down, and things get even worse. Combined with the recent death of her father, our fellow Kossack scamperdo was overwhelmed.
Despite working two jobs, she hasn't made enough income to cover these bills. At NurseKelley's urging, scamperdo posted this diary on June 13:
"Do You Ever Feel Like You're Drowning? And Hate to Ask for Help?"
In that diary, scamperdo explained:
My father was a wonderful, caring father and the most avid Red Sox fan in the entire world. Sadly he suffered from congestive heart failure and this last year deteriorated more and more. I spent most of last year traveling back and forth to help my mom to care for him. The traveling cut into what little funds I had.
It's amazing how much money can add up when you are driving back and forth to the hospital each day. How eating out, even just sandwiches, can add up because you have no energy or time to cook cheap. How much it simply costs to buy Bengay, special socks and his favorite cafe con leche to tempt him to eat something, anything. How much your cell phone bill can pile up when you are adding minutes cause you are suddenly using so many more minutes in a month. All the little costs you don't even foresee just piling up and up.
In February, my dad finally begged us to let him go and chose to find peace in a hospice. When he died, I felt I lost the last person who truly loved me unconditionally. My mom is great, don't get me wrong. But I feel more her parent than child now.
Since my dad's passing, I have felt mired in solving her problems, and meanwhile my debts piled up. The economy been killing a couponing side business I run for extra cash.
I found myself drowning.
scamperdo went on to say:
.....eleven days ago I still had my pride. My gas had been shut off but I was working out a deal for my rent and was still feeling able to dig myself out of this hole. Alas, then my car broke down this week, and I'm flat broke. I need to get the gas turned back on and repair my car and need to make that longer rental agreement payment my landlady so graciously agreed to.
So here I am.
I feel like I am drowning. I still hate to ask for help but my pride is gone now.
I need $1938.08 to pay back National Grid and turn back on my gas. I need $509 for parts to get my alternator repaired. I know that is a lot of money to ask as few of you really know me.
I really do not know how or when I can repay it by paying it forward to another. I can only offer to send out batches of the Sunday coupons I get to help you save $$ for your families. It's not much but that's all I have right now.
THANKS to the generosity of Kossacks who read her diary, scamperdo received $410, almost enough for her car repair. She still needs to pay the National Grid charges to turn her gas back on, plus another $100 for the car repair.
When I realized that scamperdo and I both live in Massachusetts, we began emailing, and my heart just went out to this sweet, humble woman. She feels she doesn't really deserve to ask for help......but I disagree, and I think many other Kossacks feel the same way I do.
NurseKelley signed me up for the Community Fundraisers group so I could write this diary and ask for your help for scamperdo. HUGS to NurseKelley for her love and generosity to this community.
Thank you for reading and for whatever help you can offer.
REMAINING GOAL: $2037.00 $1837.00 $1712.00 $1621.99
HOW TO DONATE: scamperdo's PayPal account is scamperdo@comcast.net
[Many/most fees can be avoided by selecting Send Money → Personal → Gift]
Or you can contact either of us for a mailing address.
Any contribution, large or small, will help. If you can't contribute, please rec this diary so more people will see it. Recs are good contributions! Or leave a note of encouragement for scamperdo!
Thank you for reading, dear friends.
UPDATE 1: THANK YOU! We've already raised $200, enough to get her car fixed and some towards the gas bill! $1837 more to pay off National Grid (or National Greed, as it's fondly called in Massachusetts.)
UPDATE 2: $125 more came in...thank you!
UPDATE 3: Thank you.....so far we've raised $465.01 tonight! Just $1571.99 to go before scamperdo gets her gas turned back on. We appreciate any help or encouragement you can give!
UPDATE 4: Now our total for tonight is $670.02. THANK YOU! It looks like $1366.98 till we reach our goal.
UPDATE 5: You are all amazing! We're at $905.02, which leaves just $1131.98 yet to raise. scamperdo's entire car repair bill and half her gas bill have been paid. Thank you!
UPDATE 6: You've contributed a total of $1413.90 tonight, which puts us just $623.10 from the goal of getting scamperdo's gas turned back on! Thank you, thank you, thank you! We can do it!
UPDATE 7: We're just $523.00 away from the goal! THANK YOU to all who have helped in any way. And although I'm going to bed , please feel free to donate whatever you can to help reach our goal. See you in the morning.....and thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping scamperdo!
scamperdo's PayPal account is scamperdo@comcast.net
[Many/most fees can be avoided by selecting Send Money → Personal → Gift]
Or you can contact either of us for a mailing address.
UPDATE 8: It's Saturday morning, and you amazing people have brought scamp to within $398 of the goal! With what people are mailing and may give later today through PayPal, I believe she will have enough to get her gas turned back on, as well as the car repair. THANK YOU for your wonderful support and kind words!