Hi my name is Emily, I'm 27, and I need help. I take care of my disabled mom and we are homeless. We have 2 dogs and a bird. We've been homeless for 10 months. And this is a long story but I promise it will answer all of your questions and hopefully display how genuine my situation is. I'm unfortunately going to overexplain everything. Thank you for reading.

In the beginning we lived in my car for a few months. I should mention now that I have always had a stable job throughout this hard time. I'm a hard worker and I'm determined to keep my mom and pets safe and healthy, so I will always work my butt off for them. The problem we had in the beginning is finding a house. Our landlord sold our rental out from underneath us, and we only had a few weeks to get out. We couldn't find a house in time before we lost ours. And then after that the problem became finding a place while we still had the funds. I would quickly learn how expensive it is to be homeless. Staying warm and alive was slowly taking a significant chunk of our funds, and then we had to spend hundreds in application fees just to be considered for these homes we were applying to. Since me and my mom both have an eviction history and bad credit, I'm assuming we were being overlooked for a more qualified tenant. So that's a huge reason why it was so hard to find a house. Then the heat of the summer started to hit, a>nd I made the decision to move us into a motel room. The heat was too much for my mom and my animals. I quickly realized the huge financial mistake I had made but it was too late. I understand now, I understand why people live in motels and can never seem to get into a house. It's supposed to be a quick temporary thing, but the payment for the room keeps us stuck in financial crisis. You need the roof over your head so you pay the 50-100 dollars a night, but you can't save any money because you have to pay for tomorrow too. And you can't go anywhere else because paying for today's rent has taken all of your money. As a normal person making 700 dollars a week and having to spend 550 on renting a motel room, it keeps you stuck on this plateau. I've spent around 25 thousand dollars just being homeless. And everyone will say I could have bought a house for that money, but what you don't realize is I would go to work, make maybe 90-100 dollars a day and then have to come back and spend 71 on the room. And between gas and other bills, along with the many tickets and car related issues I was having, I couldn't save anything. I'm trying to get you to grasp how stuck I actually was. I fundraised in the beginning and over the course of 2 months was gifted around 4k. I am eternally grateful for all of the help I received, and I WISH I was able to find a house at that time, but I couldn't find a single one while I had the money. It came in smaller chunks as the donations came in and the motel, my car, my tickets, my bills, my mom's meds, my pet items, etc, it all added up and would take take take. Normal people with homes can't even afford to buy groceries right now, and I'm supposed to be able to?? I'm struggling and suffering. I can't take a single break. In my spare time I am trying to find any kind of work I can get my hands on. Handyman work, extra warehouse shifts, I even work on cars with my mechanic when he needs the help. I have sold everything of value that I have, I've tried absolutely everything possible to make extra money. But alas, I have been stuck in this motel. Paying 71 dollars a day. There is no escaping. Not unless I can find help. But let me explain a little bit more.

My biggest problems came after I lost my forklift job in September. Everyone was just as shocked as I was when I was fired. I firmly believe I lost my job because I was the only girl in a man's warehouse and others can vouch for me on that opinion but it doesn't matter, I was jobless and homeless and screwed! I immediately jumped into job applications and temp services, and whatever side work I could get my hands on. Because again, I have to come up with 71 dollars a day for rent or they'll be knocking on our door at 10am. But anyways, as luck would have it I finally landed myself a waitressing job. And with this new job I had to dig myself out of the financial hole from being unemployed and homeless. Dig I did! I served my little heart out. Was only there for 6ish weeks and had already started to get my own regulars. I'm a great waitress and I love people. It worked out great. I was making amazing money, and was able to settle all of my tickets and court cases, I fixed the mustang so it was legal and safe, paid for the hold on my plate to be lifted and then paid for new tags on my birthday, kept up with daily rent, and everything else I could need. I was probably about 2 or 3 weeks away from being able to finally save some money, as I still had my car insurance coming up, storage units, etc. And then came Christmas Eve, I was fired for a simple misunderstanding and forced to leave mid-shift. It's a long story. But now here I am, left without a job and having to use all of my time to find another.

Mind you, with all of my personal work problems and money problems, I still have to take care of my extremely sick mother. My two dogs who mean the world to me. And my bird Sangria. I'm working to death to make sure they are comfortable and safe, and it's not enough with just me. I'm looking to raise enough money for the final kick to get us a house. Right when we moved in to this motel, we got pre-approved for a trailer park, and in order for me to go to the next step, I need money. That's the only thing that has kept us homeless for so long. I had to take care of all of my legal issues first, and then losing my job twice has rocked my world. I am so close. My mom gets social security, and we usually use it for storage, and a week of rent. But I lost my job at such a bad spot, and we needed to pay rent. She got her January check early, on Christmas eve. And it's already gone. We're out of funds, I can't find an immediate job, and I'm 2 says late on rent here at the motel and they're mad. I need help I need help!!!!!!!!! Before they kick us out, he told me I have until today! To pay for the last 3 days. 220 dollars! Help please. I have a cashapp that is $emashlyn and a venmo that is @emashlyn. And if you're more comfortable calling in a direct donation to my motel or storage unit, it costs 71 dollars after tax for one night in our room. Feel free to message me for my more personal info if so. Thank you for reading this far and please share 🙏🏼.

Here are the expenses that I'm going to be fundraising for.

*700 dollars for time at this motel while we get everything together

*250 dollars for our storage units with our whole home and life inside of them

*300 dollars for my car insurance

And then the rest for the deposit and first month's rent at a new home, a uhaul, groceries since my mom's foodstamps were shut off, necessities, and gas. Moving expenses right? I need the help! Once i get into a home I can finally breathe. Paying 550 a week is killing me. Please consider helping us, as we are very close to being kicked out into the street.

Leo and Bagel just want a real home, and my mom wants to stop worrying about being thrown onto the street. I promise I'm doing everything I can. I have had setback after setback. Please