I last posted a diary entry in 2008 about unions because I was going through all of the phony-baloney arbitration when I was illegally "dismissed" from a Nevada school district. Naturally, the district "won," and the "association" I later discovered was in bed with the district and shafted me over in ways that sound unbelievable to people who have never been through it. I never even knew of my rights to file an EEOC claim, and therefore I had virtually no way to get a lawyer to sue the district civilly. After all this time, there is nothing I can do.
The job I lost six years ago was the last full-time job I have ever held to date. I had to relocate to southern Oregon after my UI ran out. Many of my relatives live in southern Oregon, and it was either move there or be homeless. The area is infamous for being a place where it takes an act of Congress to get any regular employment. I am literally living on a couch, and I have been since this time four years ago, and I have lost almost everything. The ONLY employment I have been able to get up here is substituting, and that was a long, long process to even get the funds to pay for the licensing to do it. The Job Council helped pay for it. A relative helped pay for the testing for me to get a special education license, but TSPC, which issues teacher licenses, is four months behind processing applications, so I am not officially certified in the state. Furthermore, I have had to try and get K-8 certification, since the few jobs available, including special education and reading teachers, require dual certification according to TSPC. That has been a long process and will take more months to get the funds to do it.
In 2008, I made in the high 40s as a teacher, not big money, but enough to support myself and have an apartment in Reno. Friday I did my taxes, and I made the princely sum of $7965 last year, half of which is a Nevada pension. I will get NO refund because I still owe taxes on the UI benefits from four years ago as I couldn't afford to have 40 bucks a week taken from those checks to pay the IRS. It will take two or three years before I will get a refund from the IRS and Oregon's department of revenue. Despite not paying rent here and having no utilities to pay, every single penny of that $7965 is allocated for storage unit fees (ALL of my few possessions are there and I don't want to lose THOSE), auto insurance, food, pet supplies and food, what few clothes I can buy, taxes, and other expenses.
Anyway, it gets worse. I didn't work at all in December, thanks to no substitute jobs being available and two weeks off for winter break. That meant I had only $300 to live on from the end of January to the end of February. I worked most of last month, but that check isn't available until the end of THIS month, and that means I have NOTHING to live on until then, since the $300 is already gone.
With me it's bad enough; however, my chihuahua, who I have had for nearly nine years, started breathing very rapidly two weeks ago, like he wasn't getting enough air, and was generally sluggish. I had to take him to the vet, an emergency clinic, to find out what was wrong with him. It was the worst-case scenario possible: He was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. He received oxygen therapy, got x-rays, medication, and an exam, and all of that cost just under $500 only because I was able to negotiate the fee. What is going to kill me with this dog is the medication. The cost was simply outrageous for two weeks supply of three medications--$75. However, an internet search shows I can get the medication for about one-fourth as much and I wouldn't have to refill as often. Unfortunately, there is NO money to buy his meds, no money to pay the storage unit rent for this month, no money to buy food for a few days, no money to pay bills on other items I need to pay for or I will lose them, no money to pay for auto insurance, no money to pay Care Credit for the $488 I owe them to even have this dog looked at and medicated, no money at all until toward the end of February. Everything is due long before that time, except Care Credit.
I could have been okay if I could have received the unclaimed property I am owed by the state of Nevada. I applied to get the money, which comes to nearly $300, way back in November, but the bureaucrats take their sweet time in processing the applications. They told me they process in "the order they are received," but I know doing a search on the database they have processed claims received after they got mine and were not "fast track" or walk-ins. They are just sitting on it and I need the money desperately. I don't know where they are in the process after three months; they didn't tell me when they answered my email a few days ago.
I have been trying to raise funds for this short-term cash crunch, but I haven't raised any because the places where I have done it do not have high traffic. I haven't posted on Facebook because almost all of my family members are on that, and I cannot ever again borrow any money from them. I don't want them to know just how bad it is this month, so FB is out. I don't know what the rules are for Kos, and I apologize to Markos if I am breaking any rules here for posting a link to raise funds (PayPal). I hate having to do it, but it would literally be a lifesaver, at least for the dog. Just 300 or 400 would get me through the bottleneck to the end of the month, when funds will become available and I can breathe a lot better. Perhaps by then the state of Nevada will actually issue me a check, but I can't count on it to arrive in a timely fashion at all.
Here is a link to one site:
YouCaring
Here is another with a "donate" button:
link
Things have been so tight for the past four years, I am used to "living" on such small amounts of money. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Although it would do nothing for this month's cash crunch, I could cross the picket line of the MEA (Medford Education Association in Medford, Oregon) if the teachers there go on strike as scheduled for later in the week, but I am going to honor the picket line. I may give up a "lot" of money scabbing, but I can't afford to alienate people who are already employed there and sit on the hiring panels. I will be opting to work in other school districts if they strike.
Update Monday February 3--$50 has been raised so far.