UPDATED X7: Everyone Needs Warmth and Light Now: Fundraiser for JoanMar

Photo copyright Aji, 2020; all rights reserved.

Folks, we need to jump-start this effort. Donations are coming in slowly but consistently and she's closing in on the $2K mark now, but we still need to help raise $8,258 $8158, and time is short. Please share this post, share JoanMar's PayPal and CashApp addresses, and help us get her there ASAP!

I told you that I would be posting a fundraiser Saturday for someone very dear to us, someone a lot of you reading this know and love. She's been struggling for six months now, alone and in silence, in the middle of this deadly pandemic. 

UPDATE:  We're at $720 in one afternoon up to $953 now! up to $1,344 at $1,490 at $1,589 at $1,742 at $1,842 now!!! That means we have $9,280 $8,656 $8,510 $8,411 $8,258 $8,158 left to raise; not bad for just a few hours one day of getting the word out. Please keep sharing, and please keep donating!  WE CAN DO THIS!

BUT FIRST, the links:  PayPal address is nevfai [at] optonline [dot] net; CashApp is $ForYouMaria.

Most of you know this woman as JoanMar. She's JoanMarDK on Twitter, and JoanMar at the Great Orange Satan. We know her as a dear friend, a spirit sister of sorts. She is strong, brave, beautiful Black woman with a heart filled with love and a warrior's spirit, and she needs us now.

I said "strong," and there's no lie there, but frankly, she's been stronger than anyone should ever have to be. Some years back, she lost her daughter, a beautiful young woman, to a terrible example of medical malpractice. She's the one who's always there when someone in her extended family needs something: the one everyone goes to when the need money, or a hand, or a shoulder. But the same is not returned to her.

I said elsewhere this morning that Black and Indigenous woman know this burden well: We keep everyone else alive and safe and well, as well as possible and better than anyone could reasonably expect in this terrible colonial system. But we're so good at it, so skilled, so silent about our sacrifices and what it costs us that everyone has just come to expect it as the nature of things. And when we are the ones who need that help?

There's usually no one to be found.

None of us should have to be so "strong."

And JoanMar has been struggling to make ends meet for herself, as well as for everybody else, in the middle of this deadly pandemic where there's no work and no income and no help to be had, where too many this week are again being forced out onto the streets in the middle of this danger, and the more ordinary dangers of winter. And she's one of the "lucky" ones: Her landlords are a couple who understand well what she's up against, and who are not going to evict her. But she owes three months' back rent, she owes arrearages on utilities and every conceivable bill and expense, because that's what happens when there's nothing coming in even as the whole world continues to suck you dry. It's going to take a good $10,000 to cover everything she owes, and that may sound like a lot to you, but she lives in a place where this is very ordinary for cost of living — for 3 to 6 months? It's actually low. She also lives in a place where winter is both already here and also already cold and deep, and everyone needs warmth and light now.

Everyone also needs not to be alone, struggling through what's left of this god-awful year with no one to help shoulder the load. JoanMar hasn't had that; she's been doing it all by herself.

No more. Now that we know, it's our job to do something about it.

The breakdown is more or less as follows: About one-third of the $10K is three months' worth of back rent. The remaining two-thirds are a mix of state and local taxes still due (and federal taxes are coming up again in a few months), plus utilities like electricity, heat, water, probably garbage/recycling, too. Then there's vehicle insurance, maintenance, gas in the tank. And, of course, food, toiletries, cleaning supplies, other essentials. These are all sort of off-the-cuff calculations; we just threw this together last night and this morning. I can tell you that if it errs, it will be in being too conservative. I want her to have some breathing room.  A room with a safety net in it.

Look, we all know how terrible this year has been for everybody, us included. Sales are way down; we're struggling, too. But we're blessed: We have a roof over our heads, wood for the fire, food in the cabinets and the fridge; our power is on, and we have good clean water. With such good fortune, how could we NOT help? We have to. This is a friend, someone we love.

So we're giving $100 today, via PayPal. [Yeah, but I can juggle a few things; if we have to take a late-fee hit on the electricity bill, it's worth it.] Will you match it? If you can't, will you donate whatever you can spare? And if you're comfortably situated, will you donate more than that, to help get her $10K and beyond as fast as possible?

Because this is supposed to be the season of peace, and there's been precious little of it anywhere. JoanMar needs warmth and light, and the peace that comes with knowing she can cover the bills the pandemic has turned into insurmountable obstacles. So let's do this. I'll update as I have info. First hundred now:

Here's that donation info again:  PayPal address is nevfai [at] optonline [dot] net; CashApp is $ForYouMaria.

And Wings and I would consider this a personal favor.

Thanks.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.