Tuesday, Jul 5, 2022
Exciting news: we now have an anonymous $500 matching grant.
A couple of years ago J Graham was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. She underwent chemo and radiation treatment. The great folks at Daily Kos helped her out, but there were problems with the apartment where she and her daughter live, such as a leaky roof which caused serious mold and has made it a dangerously unhealthy place for her and her daughter to live.
Recently she has been sleeping in a a tent outside so she can breathe freely, but the outdoor tent space has not worked out well so she is now sleeping in a tent on her apartment balcony.
Last November she was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. In order for her body to tolerate the cancer medicines she needs to find a healthy living place. That has turned out to be very difficult, and she needs our help.
Please help us turn J Graham’s life around, and fast! She lives in California where rent is insane! It would be great if we can raise about $14,000 for her. That would cover things like: first and last months rent plus security deposit, some medical expenses, utility bills, moving costs, and a mold inspection for her current apartment.
MIGHTY CAUSE DONATION LINK
PayPal: jgraham4healthcare at gmail dot com
NOTE: I’ve updated the diary at the bottom to show how much has been raised so far. It’s now a little over $4,000, and if we can achieve the matching grant that’ll put it past $5,000. Thank you to everyone who has contributed!
Each of us knows people whose presence on Daily Kos helps make this a place we enjoy visiting. For me, one of those people is J Graham.
One of her diaries which I greatly enjoyed is this one from May of last year: Polyphony Brings Israeli Arab and Jewish young people together with music. It's a story about an inspiring effort to bring people together -- an effort I'd be unaware of it it weren't for J Graham sharing it. Here’s a brief excerpt of what she wrote:
With all of the strife currently happening, I wanted to let you know that there is still light in this part of the world.
“Music is the universal language,” as the saying goes, and Nazareth violinist Nabeel Abboud-Ashkar began putting this into practice in Israel 10 years ago when he co-founded Polyphony, a community of musicians, educators, parents, and students devoted to bringing classical music to underserved students. They also introduce Arabic and Jewish music to students of both cultures, and offer a variety of programs for elementary school students and up.
The Israeli school system is mostly segregated between Arab and Jewish students but Polyphony wants to change that...
Music is a very important part of J Graham’s life:
I’ve played music almost my entire life. As a child, I played clarinet, oboe, and recorder. Later, I began specializing in recorder and other early instruments.
As a mostly non-professional musician, I’ve performed as a recorder player and singer in community orchestras and private groups for many years.
I’m currently performing virtually in a local ensemble and teaching recorder privately to one student. I hope to build up a small business teaching recorder.
Besides music, I also have an interest in counseling, and have been taking courses toward a counseling certificate with the help of a California educational grant. I’ve completed two courses this last academic year and hope to complete the certificate in another year and a half.
J Graham loves music -- loves performing it, loves helping others learn about music and how to perform it well. But her medical situation and housing situation have been making that involvement with music increasingly difficult. It's going to be an ongoing struggle in the months ahead to regain a living situation in which she's able to do that, and it's a struggle I hope we can help her with.
Please enjoy this recorder music from the ensemble Seldom Sene:
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This will be an ongoing effort to raise the money which J Graham needs. Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated!
MIGHTY CAUSE DONATION LINK
PayPal: jgraham4healthcare at gmail dot com
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[July 3, quarter to midnight] It’s approaching midnight east coast time (and approaching 9 pm west coast time), and it looks like the day has gone pretty well. The Mighty Cause page shows that $2,188 was raised. A large thank you to everyone who contributed!
[July 3, midnight]… And I see I need to update that figure! In the time it took me to type that information, the amount raised went up another hundred dollars and now stands at $2,288 as of midnight ET.
[July 4, 9 am ET] And this morning, the amount raised has gone up to $2,543. Again, thank you!
[July 4, approaching noon ET] And looks like the total raised is a little past the quarter-way point!
[July 6, 1 am ET] The total raised is now $4,056!
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