REALLY HAPPY UPDATE:
Aji and Wings will sleep in their new home tonight.
By Tuesday, the should be completely in the house, and out of the RV.
You all are AMAZING.
ADDENDUM:
Aji says they are “profoundly grateful. Like literal tears of gratitude right now.”
Please understand this: the house is not finished yet. They’ll be living in an unfinished house: only the bedroom and part of the bathroom upstairs are fully habitable. But they can get out of the RV!
WOW!!!
An incredibly kind soul has just contributed the remaining money to meet the match.
WE’RE GOOD!!!
Thank you all for your efforts.
::breathes huge sigh of relief::
URGENT UPDATE:
Things are worse, I’m afraid. Monsoon-like storms last night, which blew through the leak patches. The RV is in already in decrepit condition as most of you know. Aji says, “[I]n a nearly 40-year-old RV, not treated kindly by its previous owners, and in monsoonal storms, patches are barely bandaids.”
So last night’s rain and wind wrought further havoc on it. They need to get out of there, really fast. They have to be able to sleep in the house tonight, and have everything out of the RV and into the house by Tuesday. On top of that, they’re both struggling with pain and exhaustion.
If you can share this post again, or do anything that will bring more eyes, and hopefully more sales and contributions, that would be a true blessing.
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going there
Zeno, as I was taught at some point during my (barely attended) school days, posited1 that as we reach for, say, a doorknob, we must halve the distance between it and our fingers, then halve that half-distance again, and again — infinitely halving the remaining space. And by this logic, he proposed, we never actually make contact with the doorknob.
Well, of course we reach the doorknob, or I’d still be stuck in that accursed classroom. But as I get farther into life, I begin to appreciate the concept as metaphor. It often feels like we’re endlessly traversing the distance between ourselves and some equally endlessly unattainable goal.
getting here
On the other hand, a philosophy professor I knew2 once spent an evening deep in her cups railing about how when we start off on a journey we say we want to go “there.” So we’re going “there.” And once we’re on the road, we’re getting “there,” and then we’re almost “there,” and when we finally arrive there, we say, “We’re here!”
For Aji and Wings, we’re almost there, and we’re working really hard on being able to victoriously proclaim, “We’re here!”
being here… and there
We’re looking to defy Zeno, grab the ultimate goal by its whatevers, and pull all of us one step closer to having Aji and Wings in the safety and comfort of their new home.
A very kind individual has offered $1000 in matching funds.3 If we make that match, we’ll be $2000 toward the final $3000 they need to pay off the stoves that will heat their home. This is essential: no heat, no safe house for the winter. With heat — and with luck — they can be in the house this winter. It’s imperative that we reach that goal for them. Another winter in the Tin Can is untenable. Unthinkable. Unbearable.
For now, they can sleep in the house starting this weekend. Let’s just contemplate that for a few seconds. This weekend. You’ve all been working so hard to help them out, and while the house isn’t finished, they could be in there — safe, sound, warm, and cozy — in just a couple of days. They have a heater they can use to warm the place until the stoves are installed — but that will only do for a little while. Pretty soon it will be too cold for that small space heater to get the job done.
The bathroom sink upstairs isn’t in yet: there’s a discrepancy between the drain fittings, so a replacement fitting has to be located. But meanwhile the tub works fine, so they’ll have running water up there. Their bed has arrived4 and, I believe, their new mattress as well, so they’re fixed for sleeping. Being able to sleep in the warmth of their home, and to have running water available, is all that’s really necessary at this point to get them out of the toxic RV. And just typing that, I want to jump up and down for joy. And maybe weep a bit in relief.
You’ve all been so amazing. You’ve been there every step of the way.5 And while this likely isn’t the last push, we’re so very close. Having Aji and Wings in the house will go a long way to helping their health improve. They’ve both been so sick from the mold, the freezing cold, and the devastating heat in the Tin Can of Doom. Not to mention the leaks. Did I mention the leaks?
...
It leaks.
A lot.
And Aji has mold in her lungs from the last leak.
So like I said before… imperative. Our amazing, generous donor is helping (and not for the first time), and we can get the rest of the way to getting the stoves in by building on his/her incredibly kind matching offer.
1. This is not an especially accurate representation of Zeno’s paradox. You can read a far more coherent one here.
2. Not one of mine: I quit school before teachers were called professors
3. Matching funds are met only by means of direct contributions. Basically, it’s a cash-only process: payments directly to their PayPal account. If you can’t or don’t want to use PayPal, contact me and we’ll set up another way for you to make your contribution.
4. They can’t use anything from the RV that is porous: the mold there has permeated everything, so bedding, bed, wood, etc. can’t be taken to the new house.
5. Honestly, you all take my breath away.
this:
Here are some of the latest pieces from Wings:
lynx:
- Aji’s blog;
- Wings's direct PayPal link;
- Wings's site, for sales;
- Lowe's cards (the physical version) via our Amazon wishlist;
- Lowe's e-cards (delivered via e-mail) here; and
- Home Depot cards via the company site. The e-version using my e-mail address is great; I take the tablet to the store with me, and they scan it off the screen.
- Our Amazon wishlist generally.
- Wayfair gift cards, to replenish all the furnishings that the RV has destroyed in one way or another.
- Partial registry #1, from Bed, Bath and Beyond. It's not complete; what's on it so far are drapes for the upstairs, associated curtain rods, and bath rugs for both bathrooms. ]
- Partial registry #2, from Wayfair. Also not complete, but covers a number of the area rugs needed for the upstairs and some kitchen items. I have to supplement this one (and the BBB one) badly, but I've been pulled in all directions nearly every second, and I probably won't get time to add to them before late tonight or tomorrow. But about Wayfair, & VERY IMPORTANT: They make it possible to crowdfund each item. So if you'd like to help, but the prices are too much for one person? You can kick in 20 bucks, or ten, or five, on any one item; many small donations can add up to one item. And while at the moment all but one is out of stock, I believe you can fund those in advance of their restocking; also, I'll have other badly-needed items on the list before long, because the wiring and mold and lime and everything else in this toxic tin can has destroyed so much of what we used to have. I'm sickened by the amount of stuff we have to throw out (on top of the things that were simply ruined, such as the microwave fried by the wiring in this place).
Always remember: shares go a huge way to raising funds. Don’t worry if you can’t make a contribution. Lots of us can’t. But you can tweet their websites, and this post. You can tell your friends and families about this effort. You can make a sandwich board and walk up and down the street with… Okay, maybe not that last one. But please share. It makes a big difference! Shares lead to sales, and it’s the sales of Wings’s amazing work that has funded the majority of the building costs.