Hope y'all can cut me a little slack with the ploy - it's to good purpose. Just wanted maximum eyes on following info. (Ordinarily, not an advocate of false advertising...so, in all fairness, gratuitous boob shot:
Okay, now that we've gotten that out of the way, lol...I need to put something major out.
We, as a community, have a damsel in distress right here in our own backyard (or playground, if you will)... She's a really good chick, a single mom of four kids, with a fifth due any minute now, unable to work due to complications arising from her current situation.
Anyone who has been following Malaya's recent post ( http://www.eccie.net/showthread.php?t=617341 ) in the coed section of our board, can see how hard things have become for her and her little ones. It takes a great deal of chutzpah to put her business out there on a whim and a prayer that maybe someone, a member of our community, will become aware of her plight to purpose rather than critical of the manner by which they may "judge" she arrived at it. Let it be self-evident that she braved the risks of censure and loss of privacy because, first and foremost, she is a mother, and that she put, however slim or devoid of discretion, the possibility of preserving the well-being of her children before any pride or fear of social criticism. No one reading her post should overlook how very difficult that would be for any one of us to do nor how deserving of, bare minimum, our respect.
I spoke to Malaya again this evening and she told me it was okay to be explicit re some of the largest, and most immediate financial obstacles she and her family currently face.
Breakdown of Last Notice Bills by Order of Emergence:
1. DUE 12/10/12 - Family vehicle payment / $420. AGAIN, THIS IS A FINAL NOTICE PAYMENT, no further payment arrangements possible.
3. DUE 12/15/12 - December rent to keep a roof over her and hers / $1,000. THE LANDLORD HAS THREATENED EVICTION, and Malaya has already exhausted the possibility of any outreach/religious-based assistance (not through any fault of her own, but due to an overwhelming number of applicants in the area and a scarcity of funding).
3. DUE 12/26/12 - CPS Energy bill (prior payment arrangement last notice) / $220. THAT IS LESS THAN 48 HOURS, PLEASE, SOMEONE STEP UP - to put it in perspective, it is less than the going rate for most 1 H SESSIONS....
Malaya has been given a Walmart MoneyCard in order to make receiving any charitable donation that anyone reading this post may like to make as painless as possible for both parties.
It is a very simple process: while at the register at any Walmart, you may ask your cashier for a card (cost of card $3.00). Your cashier will then ask you to designate an amount of money which you would like to load onto the purchased card (anything you feel comfortable with will help immensely and be equally appreciated - however, please, remember this is a real family in real trouble, so...again, please, be as generous as your means permit). After selecting an amount, you may either pay cash or credit/debit to finish loading the amount onto the card.
Please, then PM Malaya with the PIN number on the card you have purchased, and she will be able to transfer the funds over to her own card in order to pay bills and purchase necessities for herself and her family.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to read this post to completion, and my deepest gratitude for the empathy and compassion of all who, having read, choose to commit to providing financial assistance to one of our own while they are unable to do so themselves!
Ironically, "'Tis The Season" and all, but it is, or ought, always be the season to "Do Unto Others...". Diplomacy isn't my forte, by a long shot, to which those of you who know me well will attest, so, remember "Money talks, well-wishing-from-a-distant-IP walks". (Bit of a plagiarist AND not much of a poet, but, y'all get the point). Do NOT wait for someone else to step up; do NOT be a bystander, if your means permit. Make it your choice. She needs action taken quickly - one of these bills has less than a 48 hour window! This is, at the very least, a prime opportunity, right here, right now, to really make a difference and do so much good for a neighbor...that is just as much a gift for oneself as it is a blessing for them...and, who knows, in Life there is so much that even thoughtful planning and good intentions cannot triumph, but for Grace,...it might be YOU standing in the place she finds herself now.
One thought more, feel free to PM either Malaya or myself with any brainstorm idea you might cook up - anything at all, from fundraising to feasible employment (bearing in mind that she is both alternately experiencing a great deal of physical pain, and that her due date is imminent and uncertain as a result of numerous complications at the moment). Also, of note, perhaps one of you can find a way to run with this, but Malaya's ex is currently unemployed, but doing what he can to help with the kids, herself, and household tasks that she is no longer able to attend to without his assistance. He is still searching for immediate work, and has a clean background as well as his CDL license.
As a (hopefully) unnecessary sidebar, please, all who come across this thread, refrain from any hostile or irrelevant replies. Things are what they are, and what they are is bad enough without any superfluous criticism/life lesson soapbox crap. The problem doesn't need examination, but solution at this juncture.
Sometimes, it takes a village...I hope to wake up to good news and real progress, I know Malaya does.
WE CAN DO THIS!
Have a goodnight, each of you,
TWQ
('course, since he's gotten wise to my guerilla-style stalking...guess it means MORE time in the bushes outside Somebody Else's place <ssssiiiigh> ).
lol.