FINAL Update 3/24/21, 1:30 pm
Take a bow, Daily Kos.
The incredibly generous and compassionate approach exhibited by so many on Daily Kos over the past three months has resulted in J Graham officially reaching her fundraising goal as of this afternoon. Initially, some may have thought that 15K was an unrealistically high target but it finally became achievable by late this morning.
On behalf of the entire fundraising team, thanks to all who contributed, promoted the fundraiser, and supported it in a myriad of other ways. JnH
Incredible Update, 2/18/21, 6:00 pm ET— $848.00 Matching-Funds Challenge
As of this evening, the fundraising total stands at $13,304.00.
That means we need to raise another $1696.00 to get to $15,000.00. An anonymous donor has very generously agreed to match half of the amount needed to achieve our goal. So, if we raise another $848.00, it will double to $1,696.00 and we would have reached the stated fundraising goal of 15k! Thanks.
“Double the Fun, Double the Pleasure!”
Matching-Funds Challenges
#1 — 1:50 pm ET — To start with, we have a matching-funds challenge of $300.00. The first $300.00 in donations today = $600.00. That’s how it works. Challenge met!
#2 — 2:15 pm ET — We have another matching-funds challenge of $350.00. Thanks, everyone! Challenge met. Thanks for your generosity.
#3 — 2:55 pm ET — An anonymous donor has just pledged $500.00! This challenge has also been met. Such a generous act of kindness!
#4 — 4:40 pm ET — We now have a $200.00 matching-funds challenge. This challenge has also been met. Thank you, good folks!
#5 — 6:25 pm ET — Someone just Kosmailed me to make a matching-funds challenge for $300.00. Very grateful for it, thanks! Another goal met. Thank you, donor!
#6 — 9:00 pm ET — The next Challenge is for $150.00. This was quick, challenge met.
#7 — 9:35 pm ET — Challenge #7 is for $250.00! This challenge was met in the past few minutes. Thank you, kind donor.
#8 — Anyone wants to make a matching-funds challenge? I’m waiting! :-)
#9 — Reserved just for you.
If you would like to anonymously make a matching-funds pledge, please Kosmail me. Our goal is to raise $15,000.00. We currently stand at $7,850.00. So, a long way to go!
UPDATE — 12:35 am ET: The current total stands at $12, 458.00 $12,858.00. I’m probably going to check in again one more time before I call it a night. My heartfelt gratitude to so many of you who dropped by, made donations, and republished this diary in your groups as well as promoting it in many other ways. It was fantastic to touch base on Daily Kos with some of you after years.
Trump is gone and probably relegated to irrelevancy soon. We can, among other things, celebrate that fact! Thank you very much for your active support.
UPDATE — 1:25 am ET: Thanks again and have a good night. I’ll check the diary again, but probably not until late morning or early afternoon. I’m busy in the morning with that thing called “work.” Thanks.
UPDATE — Mon 2/15, 2:00 pm ET — The fundraising total stands at $13,179.00. You can still contribute by clicking the Donation link. On behalf of the entire fundraising team, thank you for your generosity.
JnH
2020 Was the Worst Year in Recent Memory. Aren’t You Glad it’s Over?
GrantCat: Narrowly Avoiding Disaster.
Have you ever felt a sense of hopelessness? Ever confronted a crisis that seemingly had no solution? Have you ever given up? If you’re one of the few Americans left largely untouched and unscathed by this devastating pandemic, count your blessings. You are one of the lucky ones.
Almost half a million people have lost their lives in this country over the past year. Millions more are unemployed or underemployed through no fault of their own. Tens of millions feel the burden of unpaid bills, diminished incomes, loss of health insurance, fear of eviction, and the ever-present danger of contracting a virus that may well cost them or their loved ones their lives. Not many are untouched by this invisible deadly killer. If you live your daily life not thinking constantly of impending disaster, consider yourself fortunate and blessed. In that respect, you certainly are in the minority.
For almost a year, a disastrous, incompetent, and criminally negligent administration chose to play partisan politics, favoring unscientific remedies and solutions unfit for a country founded on the principles of the Enlightenment. The daily death toll kept rising, justified by a plethora of excuses offered that were unfit for this or any other democratic country. For four long years, conspiracy theories — not scientific data — ruled the day with total loyalty demanded of civil service employees whose job it is to provide non-partisan solutions. Finally, violence, not the rule of law, was the path chosen by a group of losers on their way out. Are any of them going to pay a price for this outrageous, unconstitutional, illegal, and criminal behavior?
LawrenceCat: “Nothing is Written!”
Most Americans know a different truth in their gut: we are a better people and country than what was on display early last month in Washington, DC. I live here in DC and the insurrection shook many people who have seen just about everything in this town. Only a bit over three weeks ago, the ascension of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the highest political offices in the land gives many people a sense of hope and restores some confidence in the future. Effective Democratic control of the US Senate and US House of Representatives will, hopefully, make obstructionism a thing of the past and holds the promise of much-needed relief to people struggling in this environment. Finding a lasting solution to the pandemic and restoring some semblance of “normalcy” is the biggest challenge facing America since the Great Depression.
For some, hope is all they have for now. For others largely ineligible for government help, this community can make the difference as it has on numerous occasions in the past.
Click This Link to Read Her Story, Make a Donation,
and Help J Graham Get Back on Her Feet!
How Unlucky Can One Get? You Have No Idea.
Imagine if you could muster enough energy and gather sufficient resources to graduate from college at the age of sixty-three. Soon after graduation, you find out you have breast cancer. Chemotherapy treatments occupy much of your time over the next few months. Just as you start to feel better and optimistic about the future, even as you deal with multiple side effects, the world (literally) shuts down around you due to Covid-19. What predictably happens next includes a slew of financial issues including bills piling on, back rent accumulating, and job prospects vanishing. Stress and uncertainty take over your life.
Who do you turn to for help? This is more or less what happened to J Graham, as told in her own words.
A few days ago, I broke down and wrote the following to some DK friends:
GoghCat: Down, But Not Out.
Hi all, I can’t sleep. Worrying too much because of my financial situation due to the pandemic and cancer treatment that kept me from working before the pandemic.
My savings are running out. I can’t get disability because I haven’t worked enough in the last three years - I was in school full time and then in cancer treatment which I’m still dealing with and recovering from. I’m facing eviction (or a lawsuit from my landlord for rent money) as of Feb. 1 unless state or local gov’t passes new laws. Without an income, I’ll be destitute in about 2 months.
I’m working with a social worker, have access to legal aid advice, applied for food stamps, and cutting out every expense that’s not necessary. Looking for part time work (can’t physically work full time yet even if there were jobs).
Background:
My story starts in early 2017 when I went back to finish college at the age of 60. I graduated last year. My significant other, who was my cheerleader and support system, became seriously ill that summer and passed away 10 months later from complications after surgery. After he passed, I survived on savings and university financial aid, with a plan to go back to work after graduation.
But shortly after I graduated, I was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. I was unable to look for work while undergoing surgery, chemo, and radiation, which I completed this summer. I now have some disabling side-effects from the treatment and my recovery is ongoing.
WainCat: Hoping for a Better Future for J Graham.
I’m looking for part-time remote work now. It’s difficult to find in these pandemic times, but I’m looking at every possible opportunity and have a few more rocks to turn over as of this writing. Some of my challenges work-wise are: I’m unable to do manual labor or essential worker jobs, such as grocery shopper or driver, because I have a frozen shoulder and can’t lift things. I can’t work around people because I’m high-risk due to my age and health condition. My young-adult daughter lives with me but is unable to work. She has an anxiety disorder and has applied for SSI, a process that takes months to resolve.
Other state and federal (SSDI) disability programs rely upon work months or quarters completed and because I haven’t worked since 2016, I am unable to collect disability. So I’ve fallen through some cracks in the safety net. I’m receiving Medi-Cal healthcare coverage (CA’s Medicaid) and $184/mo. in food stamps for my daughter and me. I’m applying for utilities discounts. I've applied for In-Home Supportive Services through Medi-Cal, which - if we receive it - will pay my daughter to help me until my shoulder heals and I recover more fully from treatment, in about a year. The application process takes several months.
I have a number of skills which I hope can become income-generators. I conducted original qualitative research as an undergraduate and I could translate those skills into remote writing, editing, and interviewing. I have office managerial experience, and I’m a classical musician who can teach instrumental music.
With DK members’ help, Sara R and winglion created a beautiful community quilt for me, which I received early this year. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/3/24/1930883/-Thank-you-for-the-beautiful-community-quilt I’m looking at it right now as I write. It remains as magical as ever, and I’m so grateful.
Our cat, pictured in the quilt diary I linked, recently passed away. She was my constant companion during treatment and I will miss her terribly as I go through the next months of recovery and beyond.
I’m asking for contributions, up to $15,000, for rent, utilities, food, clothing, and medical supplements, until I can find a job or other ongoing support. My rent is $2,280 per month for my two-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles, but I was able to get a Covid-related rent reduction between June 2020 and January 2021. However, at the end of January, unless state or local laws change, I will be required to start paying my full rent as of Feb.1 and paying the substantial back (Covid-relieved) rent I owe. It's estimated that it takes 6 months to find a new job, but if I find a job sooner than that, I can use the funds to pay back my back rent.
CasablancatCat: J Graham’s Rent Collector. He Might Look a Bit Familiar.
Update — February 14, 2021:
Rent situation: The Covid-related rent relief laws have been extended in California until June 30, so I'm still needing to send in at least 25% of my rent monthly until then. There’s also a new state program for landlords (backed by federal funds) that will allow them to receive 80% of tenants’ Covid-related back rent from April 2020 through March 2021 if they forgive the other 20%. But it’s optional and it’s not clear yet whether my landlord will opt in. When I get information on where and how they can apply, I will let them know - all of that is apparently still in the works. They haven't yet acknowledged to me that this program will soon be available to them.
As the laws currently stand, landlords will be able to start suing tenants for back rent in August. I joined a tenants’ union and attend weekly workshops with a tenant legal aid group to keep current on the law and get tips on how to protect myself. I received another 15-day notice this month, but I've turned in financial hardship forms to my landlord, as required by law. I should be okay through June to prevent eviction.
Work: I have one music student and am currently looking for more. I've begun working with a social worker who is helping me find jobs. I'm also applying to jobs, searching job sites, and contacting references from past jobs.
Health: Cancer treatment continues with a new hormone blocker medication - hopefully, I'll be better able to tolerate the side effects of this one. Frozen shoulder continues and I'm holding off in-person physical therapy and other medical care due to the Covid surge.
Thanks again for your generosity!
With a Little Help From My Friends. You Are the Best!
This fundraising drive is a collaborative effort. While my moniker appears on this diary, major contributions were made by others and, often, quietly behind the scenes. I contacted a number of Daily Kos members, most of whom have been on here for a very long time. They are well-respected and have worked hard over the years to expand this blog’s reach into the real world. I’ve interacted with and, indeed, also worked with most of them on numerous past community projects. Below you will see their messages of support for J Graham and why you should consider contributing to this fundraising effort.
An Appeal from Sara R, ZenTrainer, The Marti, and Onomastic
MeownaLisaCat and Her Hooman, Leonardo Da Vinci, Strongly Endorse This Fundraiser. The Fundraising Team Welcomes Your Active Support Including Matching Challenges, Tweets, FB Shares, Comments, Recommendations, DK Groups Republishing, Words of Encouragement, Informing Friends, Emailing Family Members, Posting Fun Pics, Sharing Music, and, Importantly, Making Donations. Thanks, JnH
Sara R:
J Graham is a beloved community member who has been fighting cancer. Stress is one of the absolute worst things for a person trying to heal from something like that — and heaven knows the world is full of stress right now. But lack of money and housing insecurity is something that the community can help her with. This is something that can be fixed.
Please help and give this lovely lady peace of mind so she can heal.
OzCats: Following the Yellow Brick Road!
ZenTrainer:
I don't know how J Graham stays so positive and kind, but she does. She is going through her cancer experience with such dignity and grace. (I went through mine kicking and screaming!) She doesn't have the support and family so many others have so let's do what the Daily Kos community does best. Let us be her support team. Let us be her family.
The Marti:
We all know someone who has been affected by the huge changes in our world since the pandemic began. JG is one of those people who has done all the right things and still been knocked around (HARD) by things beyond our control.
Please, if you can, kick in a few bucks to help. Don't do anything you cannot afford to do, so even tips and recs can help spread the word.
We come for the politics and stay for the community here. And this is where we shine.
ZhivagoCats: Happy Valentine’s Day!
Onomastic:
I know what it's like to have your world crash and burn in spite of all your best efforts. No one should have to go through that and yet our own J Graham has and is.
A child with disabilities, a much loved husband passing away unexpectedly, her own cancer, and now dealing with cancer treatment side effects during a pandemic.
Any one of these situations could push a family over the edge. Just one. If you can, won't you please help her?
Click This Link to Read Her Story, Make a Donation,
and Help J Graham Get Back on Her Feet!
Messages of Support from Puddytat, ptressel, Portlaw, and bleeding blue
VermeerCat: Just Do it!
Puddytat:
She needs help and it's easy to understand why. I, too, became disabled due to two years of harsh chemo, but I was safely retired and on Medicare. That's not the case of J Graham who is years from Medicare and not only without income, but unable to work due to her disability. The financial support she had from her partner ceased when he passed away recently and she can't even apply for disability because of her inability to work for the required 3 years before application. This is our current, busted up, nonfunctional social safety net utterly failing. The only ones who can help are us.
ptressel:
Right now, J Graham and I are trying to egg each other on to do physical therapy and exercise and work toward getting up and at 'em again. But I'm retired, and not being threatened with eviction. I don't have to be scurrying to make ends meet while I can't work.
We don't have the government-run/-facilitated social supports we should, so we need to DIY it. I've been watching as various of our elected officials, candidates, local organizations have begun setting up mutual aid programs, and thinking, wow, let's replicate this all over. Until such time as we get past the right's blockade, it looks like mutual aid is the way to go.
MarxistCats: Ahhh, Capitalism!
Portlaw:
I so admire J Graham. This past year she been buffeted by almost impossible winds, including major health issues. Yet, in her diary about receiving the community quilt she responded: "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle."
She always thinks of others. Let us think of her.
bleeding blue:
This pandemic ripped the cover off our already tattered safety net. A year ago last spring, a lot of us were already in a precarious survival mode…and it doesn’t take much to push a person from an comfortable place in life to just getting by. An illness, the loss of a partner, and loss of a job can quickly push a person into poverty.
Our meager relief systems barely function in times of prosperity and in the past year, crashed due to COVID. While we work on the long game of making sure that we can adequately fund each American’s needs, we can at least be there for our friends and comrades in their time of shortfall.
Words of Encouragement from elenacarlena, noweasels, Brecht, and JoanMar
HankCat: Speaking of Fierce Knights, Those French Woozles Have No Idea What’s About to Hit Them at Agincourt!
elenacarlena:
Cancer sucks worse than just about anything in this world. So does its treatment, but fortunately at least now we have effective treatments for the battle. But an optimistic mood is SO important for recovery, and for one of my friends to have to worry about finances on top of a fight for her life brings out the fierce white knight in me, itching to charge into the fray and protect her. Thus the first diary.
I couldn't do it alone and am grateful to all my friends here for helping me get her halfway to financial stability as a result of that first diary, as well as to JnH for bringing his knightly powers here for this second diary.
noweasels:
When JnH, my friend of 15 years, asked me to write a note of support for this diary, I was touched. I know it’s a cliche here — “came for the politics, stayed for the community” — but cliches are born of truth, and that is certainly true for me.
This noisy orange space, on its finest days, is a place where our joys are doubled and our troubles halved. I am grateful, today, to support our friend, J Graham, who has shouldered far too many troubles this past year. This wonderful community already has halved her financial burdens. Let’s finish that mission, today, and bring her some well deserved joy, as well.
Happy Valentine's Day, J Graham. Our hearts are with you. Thank you all.
ShakespeareCats: "Wherefore Art Thou Romeo?"
Brecht:
We've all been suffering through rotten years, and 2020 was the worst in our lifetimes. Poor J Graham has struggled through all of that, with several extra tragedies of her own to fight against, and without her husband anymore to help or hold her. J Graham has a fierce spirit and an ever-caring heart, she's always listening and looking out for others. Somehow she's still standing, but barely.
Today is the best day for you to share some of your love and money, before J Graham falls off her looming cliff. We are all in this together.
JoanMar:
I imagine the nights J Graham lay tossing and turning in her bed wondering where to turn for help. I imagine the debates she had with herself about sharing her troubles with the world...and once she'd made the decision to share, the bravery it took to follow through. Most of all, I imagine the faith she has in this her online home...the faith that if members of this community only knew about her many difficulties, they’d come through for her.
She knows that we take care of our own. Let’s prove her right again. Let’s help her the only way we can; by giving her days and nights of knowing that she’ll have a roof over her head, food in her pantry, and more time to heal. Let’s do this.
I would also like to acknowledge a great deal of help that I’ve received for years from the wonderful group of people who are to be found in PWB diaries. And special thanks to our resident DK cartoonist extraordinaire, ericlewis0, for the creative fundraising cartoon he made for J Graham.
My thanks to all these good folks for taking the time to express their heartfelt feelings, making excellent suggestions, and offering tangible support. Now, let’s get to work!
A Special Message from Daisy and Ollie — Courtesy of Their Hooman, ericlewis0
Both are beloved characters who made their debut many years ago and owe their popularity on Daily Kos to Eric. Big supporters of J Graham and accomplished musicians in their own right, they were last seen singing their favorite song, “We love J Graham!” Doesn’t everyone?
In the sketch’s background, please note the quilt that Sara and Ann made and the Daily Kos Community gifted last year for J Graham during her cancer treatments. Thank you, Sara, Ann, Eric, and everyone else!
Please Join Daisy and Ollie in Supporting J Graham.
Click This Link to Read Her Story, Make a Donation,
and Help J Graham Get Back on Her Feet!
Update: J Graham added this thank-you message below in the comments.
Thanks, Everyone!
I just want to acknowledge and thank the people who offered such beautiful comments in the body of the diary and assisted JnH in creating this diary. My heart is touched by everything you said.
Love to you all: Sara R, ZenTrainer, TheMarti, Onomastic, Puddytat, ptressel, Portlaw, bleeding blue, elenacarlena, noweasels, Brecht, JoanMar, and Eric Lewis.
