Hi, I am Edward E. De Campa and I am fundraising for myself. First let me say I've had an exciting life, at the age of 57 I've seen a lot. I'd say I've had some exciting jobs in my life. I was a Fireman/Medic, 4 years in Rockford Illinois and 2 years in Chicago, Illinois, back in the years when Cabrini green was there, and yes, I had gun shots go over my head going in there where the gangs owned the buildings. I've traveled the world when I owned my own company, I got to train my son in that field and once Covid killed the company I found my son a job doing that trade I trained him for. What started my demise was a massive blood clot problem in my legs and lungs. I was told I was going to have a procedure that would last 2 days in the hospital. Because the clots were so bad that I ended up staying in the hospital for 9 days. Some of the Doctors were surprised that I was still talking. This took a toll on my body and slowed me down but I am still functional, slow with issues with my breathing.

After that I lost the company in Virginia. In response I took training to drive a truck. By the time the training was completed I was evicted and on public aid. My family has passed so I reached out to a friend in Illinois for a place to live. I am a hard worker so when I arrived in Illinois I door dashed to pay for my storage of my kids memories and a bedroom set in Virginia, I lost everything else. Fortunately, my friend has not required me to pay rent to help me until I start the new job that was offered to me last week which is nice of her because she works 7 days a week to barely make ends meet herself.

Last week I got a job driving a school bus. Later that same day my truck started to overheat. My water pump was leaking so I borrowed the money to replace it, which I did myself. Once I put the truck back together it kept overheating. Later a mechanic informed me that I blew the head gasket, so the motor was no good. I have $4 in my bank account with no savings whatsoever. I'm asking for the funds to keep my storage, pay my cell phone bill so I can stay in contact my new employer, get a pair of glasses and put a down payment on a vehicle or even better, pay it off so I can work and get myself off of public aid, of course anything over what I'm asking for will be applied to the vehicle and with any luck get all those memories from Virginia to Illinois. It's been a rough year or so with all the things I have lost but with a little luck I can pull myself out of this public aid hole but without a vehicle I will be going the wrong direction.

My cell phone and internet will be turned off soon so I will go to the library every day to see how this is going. That part of the expenses is only 150, 165 is what the storage unit in Virgina costs and a basic pair of glasses are 125.

I reached out to all the government programs, and I do not qualify because I do not have a child under 18. I was a single father when I got divorced when my son was 12, where I did not have a lot of help from his mother. I taught my son a trade and now he works in Pennsylvania. I reached out to the churches in the area, but they are not returning phone calls yet. I also reached out to all the car programs you see on tv, but they too are not returning phone calls.

I am not asking for a lot because once I get to working; I should be able to cover my own expenses. I will thank you for any help you can give so someday I can get back to a normal life again, where I will return the donations in paying it forward. 

I ask that if you can understand how hard it is to move out of poverty and that you are helping someone will do just that, will you share this with your friends, family and anyone that could help.

I will post updates as things move forward.

From my heart I thank you in advance and wish that every day in your life is better than the day before.