I remember the moment when my partner and I found our young puppy, Kai, shaking on the floor, fearful eyes darting all around, his head twitching rapidly, and hearing him whine uncontrollably and clutch onto me tightly. He had just found meth on the floor and eaten it, we realized, and now was suffering from the harmful side effects that would last over twelve hours.

That was the moment I knew we had to get out. 

My partner, Sie, and I have been through a lot of hardships throughout our relationship, such as hateful homophobia from family members and strangers, racism, financial setbacks and struggles, car accidents, etc., but our living situation has been one of the toughest by a long shot. 

We live on Maui with her grandma and two uncles. In short, Sie has had a rough childhood filled with household drug abuse, violence, her mom in and out of jail, an absent father, and sexual assault. She has learned to raise herself on her own and she knows she wants nothing to do with the detrimental behaviors of her family members. 

Although we live in Hawaii, our living situation is far from paradise. She realized she was a lesbian in her early teens and faced criticism and homophobia from those around her. Despite this and despite her struggles with depression, anxiety, ptsd, and suicidal thoughts associated with both her childhood and sexual assault trauma, and realization of her sexuality, she fought through to become a strong, confident woman who longs to help others and make a big impact in the world. 

I, on the other hand, was fighting through my own obstacles. I grew up in a very religious home where homosexuality was strictly forbidden. Because of this and some other harsh restrictions put on me, I moved out as soon as I turned 18. What I mean by move out is that I moved across the country from Maine to Hawaii. Now I am inspired and motivated to help others, especially in the lgbt community, and spread unconditional love and equality as much as possible. 

When I met Sie, who was born and raised on Maui, it was like everything fell into place in our lives, and we both knew without a doubt that we were meant for each other. I moved in quickly and we began our life together. However, not everyone was as thrilled with us being together as we were. My parents, for example, told me I was living in sin and that they would never meet Sie, or approve of our relationship. Most of my extended family, with a few exceptions, felt the same way. And although Sie's family members were more accepting, there are still a few, mainly the two that we live with, that are homophobic and cruel. 

This brings me to the reason I am writing. Now that you know more of who we are and our story, I should tell you what we are asking for. We need a home, a safe place to live. The house we live in now is a toxic environment with drug abuse, violence, yelling, we have limited kitchen appliances, limited space and laundry access, and it is unsanitary and mice-infested. I often feel uneasy going in certain areas of the house out of fear of getting yelled at or insulted by someone who is coming down from their high from drugs. There have been multiple nights where it's gotten so bad at the house that we've had to leave and either sleep in our car or in a tent somewhere. Not to mention my fear of the safety of our dog, who has already been kicked several times and may accidentally eat more drugs on the ground and get hurt or worse. He is our emotional support dog and we both don't know what we would do if anything ever happened to them. In short, we need a new, safe home for our family. 

Our dream is to buy a small piece of land either on Maui or on one of the Hawaiian Islands, and build our own tiny home there. We dream of growing our own fruit trees and vegetables and being totally self sufficient. We dream of raising our children here. We also want to eventually build a healing center, where we can teach hawaiian cultural practices, yoga, meditation, dance therapy, art therapy, massage, and also hold retreats for members of the lgbt community to heal from trauma. This is our vision, and we need your help. 

We are both talented, artistic individuals and in exchange for every donation we will each give a present to the donor. Sie makes beautifully rare, one of a kind Hawaiian puka shell necklaces that are worth up to $1000 each and will be given to every donor. I paint tropical landscapes and abstract acrylic on canvas art, my mural paintings have been displayed on the east coast, Hawaii, and in the Philippines, and I will give an original painting to each donor. We are looking for donations, but we are also looking for partnerships, connections, community, an ohana and a tribe.

I believe that you receive what you ask for, so we are taking this leap of faith and reaching out. We will gratefully accept donations of any size, however our ultimate goal is $80,000. 

This amount will be broken down specifically like this:

$60,000 for investing in land, building a tiny home and healing center as cost effectively as possible.

$10,000 for paying off medical bills from a car accident: Sie got into a car crash 2 years ago that nearly took her life. She went through three guardrails and a telephone pole. Miraculously she suffered only minor injuries, but she has some medical bills, and now she's in a position where she cannot get another driver's license until she pays off her bills. 

$10,000 for our dream wedding: we are engaged and want to get married as soon as we can, however we dont have the funds to do so just yet. With neither of us having a father to walk us down the aisle, our support is limited and we would sure appreciate your help! Our dream is to have a ceremony on Maui in the tropical jungle, and then have a sunset reception at the ocean. For our honeymoon we want to travel to all the Hawaiian islands, please help our dream become a reality! Mahalo nui loa (thank you very much), and hope to hear from you soon!

Much Aloha,

Sarah