Jun 10, 2008
Hello all,
My name is Nichole, and I live with my Dad and my daughter. It's hard to say exactly when the real problems started, so I'll just say that they have been getting worse for years now and continue to do so. My Grandfather suffered a severe stroke about 4 years ago and was confined to a nursing home. My Dad had to quit his job and move a state away to take care of my Grandmother (acute Alzheimers) and the house, which was literally crammed with miscellaneous items in boxes in every room of the house. He eventually had to put her in a nursing home and pack the house up so it could be sold. We tried to sell things, but didn't get rid of even half the stuff and had to take it back home with us to Missouri. At first things were okay, because my Grandpa had tens of thousands of dollars saved up, and it floated us for a while until my Dad could get a job, but the money ran out quickly because of nursing home expenses. At this time, I was pregnant with my daughter. When my Dad was out of state he met someone and she moved back with us to Missouri. She soon discovered that she had breast cancer, however, and in an attempt to help her out, my Dad asked her to move in with us. The house wasn't big enough, though, and since she was still healthy enough to work, we decided to move to a bigger house that cost more money per month, but would be doable with two adult incomes. Within a few months of her move, the cancer quickly dehabilitated her, and my Dad was left to shoulder all the rent($1275.00/mo). That was 2 years ago. From then on, we have been struggling from month to month. Things have been rough, but it's dramatically worsened in the last year. At first we went through her 401K, but that ran out and she was only bringing in money from the government for her meds. However, her meds cost more than she was given so we frequently had to buy them for her, and absolutely none of her money contributed to any of the bills. Throughout this time Dad was laid off several times from his job, and had to take out many loans. One example is a $1000.00 loan that he took out over 8 months ago, and has been pay $145.00/mo, but still owes $900.00, because of extremely high interest rates. She just moved out a month ago to live with her daughter for 2 reasons: 1) We can't afford her medicine bills and (more importantly) 2) Her health is deteriorating and she needs to be with family near the end. When she left, the total amount of debt wer were in was over $7,500.00. We are over six months behind on rent and it's only through God's grace that the landlord hasn't kicked us out. Instead he keeps record of how much we owe him and demands at least $250 a week that we can rarely see through. My Dad had to get back surgery earlier in the year, but got a new job through a temp agency, who used him for the 90 day period then laid him off with no reason two weeks ago. He luckily got another job the same day with a previous employer, but they laid him off within 9 days, saying they had messed up the HR recall list of employees. I am working and going to school, but I don't bring in much, because I'm a Nursing student, and being a single mother, my grades fall sufficiently when I work a lot, plus my Dad has to babysit for me because daycare is too expensive ($200.00/wk). I'm a waitress who makes, if I'm lucky, $50.00 a night. I told my Dad I would quit school, but he insists I stay, partly because the experience makes him all to aware of education life necessitates these days. We only have one car, because I was in a car accident recently. My daughter's Father isn't available for help because he physically abused my daughter when she was three months old. I tried to apply for healthcare and my daughter is eligible (thank God), but I am not eligible because I bring in more than $200.00 a month. I applied for food stamps, but we are only eligible for $65.00 a month. Right now we are eating Ramen noodles and pancakes almost daily. Catholic Charities said we are not eligible for help. Our house is located in a lovely, family oriented town, but it's also a more expensive area. We can't move, because we don't have the money to buy groceries, much less to buy a moving van for our furniture. Also, we have all of the aforementioned boxes of items from my Grandparents house and need to get rid of it before we go. The only familial support we have is my Mother who is separated from my Dad, and says she feels used when we ask for help, so she has refused to. Right now, my Dad's monthly bills are over $2,000.00 (car payment, insurance, rent, utilities, loan) and that's before groceries and gas for the vehicle. I also have my own bills per month, around $400.00, and my car needs to be fixed (a couple thousand dollars worth). My Dad hasn't been able to find a job so far. We went through our expenses recently and realized that even if we were given $10,000.00, we would still not be completely out of the hole. I don't know what to do. We aren't eligible for hardly any benefits, yet we can't pay any of our bills! We just need help. I know this has been extremely long, but thank you if you read it through. I'll try to summarize:
We have a total of $2,500.00 in mandatory bills due a month.
We are over $7,500.00 behind in rent, and may face eviction soon.
We are in credit card and loan debt of about $2,500.00.
I am a single Mom, my Dad has been laid off twice in the last month, and we have two cars: one isn't working and is in need of major repairs.
We have over 100 boxes of items that need to be sold or given away before we move.
We would deeply appreciate help in the form of mechanical repairs, money, job offers, babysitter assistance, references to non-government assistance or even just someone to come buy some of our Grandparent's items -or even take it for free! We just to get it off of our hands so we can move and only want money because of our extenuating situation (misc: picture frames, paintings, scarves, clothes, hangers, candlesticks, candles, crystal, cookbooks, appliances, etc-many of which are in good/new condition, but it is too tedious to sell on ebay and not all of it is accepted by charities).
Again, thank you for listening. Please respond. Every day is a struggle and very disheartening.
