The title of this piece is deliberately chosen — Aji wrote a fundraiser for tonyahky titled “Community Fundraisers: When Your Own Home Is Killing You” about the dangers of living in a moldy environment when you are immuno-compromised. (BTW, Aji has been a great force advocating for & fundraising for those in need; it would be great if we can return the favor to her now). Unfortunately, Aji is in a similar situation herself. She and Wings have been living in an old RV for almost 7 years now, after their manufactured home was repossessed after the financial crisis in 2008. However, the lack of any insulation, formaldehyde, and mold issues with the RV greatly exacerbate Aji’s assorted medical issues. To make matters worse, there is a nearby wildfire, and the smoke from that coupled with the heat of summer are causing her difficulty breathing. From her blog this past Sunday:
Right now? It's ninety, and that's still more than ten degrees cooler than it is inside. And I've spent most of the week cooped up in it to avoid the worst of the wildfire smoke, but we have to have the windows and doors open, so it's a minimal improvement, and the trade-off is the monstrous heat. I'm suffocating, figuratively and literally; I haven't breathed normally for a week.
The other part of the title, “Shelter” was an intention choice as well. The RV is shelter, if a crappy one. It’s not a Home. Aji & Wings have been building a modest home using traditional materials, crowdsourcing the funds of necessity since no bank will provide a loan for a house they can’t tow away on tribal land they can’t foreclose on. They’ve made a lot of progress in the almost 2 years since they started. The picture Aji posted from last night shows how close they’re getting:
Unfortunately, the text that accompanied that picture was despairing. They have to lay the crew off because they don’t have the funds to continue. And they can’t move into the house yet, because key things need to be completed still (like the septic system still looming):
We need help, and badly, to make a lot of this stuff happen. It's not just the $2,500 for materials/labor next week; it's $1,700 for the electric, and ungodly amount for the flooring, $4K for the exterior top coat, and none of that includes the kitchen appliances and cabinets, water heater, or the disaster that is the septic system.
If I had a magic wand or could control the universe, they’d be in the new house by now. If I won the lottery, I’d gladly pay the remainder they need. In lieu of that, I have words. Below the fold I’ll post these in an easy to use manner, but for now: I am pleading with you — those of you who love Aji and Wings as I do, those of you who may know me but not Aji, those of you who know neither of us but are part of the Daily Kos community, and those reading this because someone shared it via Facebook, Twitter, Email, or else-wise — help in any way you can. If you have a few bucks to spare, please consider donating. If you are in the market for awesome photography or amazingly beautiful and powerful jewelry, consider purchasing from Wings. If you have bonus points to spend on Amazon, consider sending Aji & Wings something from their wishlist. Home Depot gift cards are also needed — they have by far the cheapest cost (by more than 50%) on some of the items Wings & Aji need. And if you have no coins to spare (and I’ve been there myself, I know how that goes), Recs & Comments to the diary to keep it visible help immensely; republishing it to your groups, posting it to social media, etc. all help (I cannot overstate the importance of that type of help, seriously, and it doesn’t cost a thing). You have my gratitude.
If you’ve stayed with me for this long, thank you. I’ve seen comments in the past with people who have trouble with Wings’ website, especially on mobile browsers. Here’s some links to help with mobile browsing:
In addition, here’s the nice concise list of links and ways to help — either through purchasing or sharing:
- Wings’ Paypal Account — and by the way, since that’s a PayPal.me link, you can copy/paste it into twitter for easy sharing there (or if it’s easier for you to type, it’s www.paypal.me/DiegoWings). If for some reason the link doesn't work, it's tied to his e-mail address: wingsoftaos [at] newmex [dot] com.
- Their Amazon Wishlist — the Lowe’s gift cards in particular are extremely useful, as that is where they have to buy many of the materials for the house — they will really be needing these in the days to come, for flooring, fixtures, interior doors.
- Home Depot Gift Cards — that link on the Home Depot site lets you send the gift card electronically or mail one to Aji & Wings directly.
- Wings’ Website — Shares thereof or purchases from help fund their day to day living expenses. Client Testimonials also welcome!
We do currently have an offer of $800 in MATCHING FUNDS available! If we can raise $800 through donations, that will instantly double to $1600! Your $5 becomes $10, $20 becomes $40, etc.!
Thank you for reading this far, and for anything you can/have done to help. I’ll close with some photo collages that GreyHawk put together of the progress that’s been made so far (let’s help them finish it now that we’re so close!)
Update: We are at $555 via PayPal; $245 in matching funds left to claim! You guys rock!
Update 2: $690! $110 to go to claim all matching funds!
Update 3: WE BLEW PAST THE FIRST GOAL!!! You guys seriously rock!!! OK, between talking with Aji, and private Kosmails, I can announce that not only did we make the first $800 for the match, but that a second donor stepped up to offer $1000 in matching funds, and … drumroll please … We’re already $390 of the way to meeting that match! Aji is blown away and grateful, and deeply thankful to everyone.
Update 4: $490 in on the second match, $510 to go!!
Update 5: $723 towards the second match; $277 to go! Have I mentioned how much I love this place? :-)
Update 6: $823! $177 to go for the second match! Aji posted an update on her blog, and includes this note:
Tonight? We can call the crew back, thanks to a whole bunch of people to whom we owe such profound thanks that I have no words for it. I have wept so many times this evening; sometimes tears are the only language of gratitude.
...
Many thanks and much love to everyone for getting us this far. As an added bonus, the smoke cleared up until the last hour or so, and so until now, breathing's been easier in the literal sense. But it's a LOT easier in the metaphorical sense right now. In 24 hours, y'all have pulled me up out of complete despair and made me think that, yes, maybe we can do some more of this, after all. Thank you, from both of us, from the bottom of our hearts.
Update 7: According to the message from Aji this morning, they woke up to find that we blew through the second match, exceeding it by $323! Kossacks are the best! My deepest thanks to each and every one of you. :heart: