Saving a Family, and a Farm — Already More Than 1/10 of the Way There

Photo copyright Bobby and Juan; all rights reserved.

Note:  This was supposed to post much earlier, but my day and evening got hijacked. I'm posting anyway to catch any overnight surfers and my early morning peeps.

I wrote last night about the situation my friend Bobby is facing, and his efforts to save the farm he and his late husband Juan shared with their many beloved rescue animals. He has created a GoFundMe page, with an overall goal of $12,000. This will allow him to save the farm, get their animals back home where they belong, and make it until he begins his new job. 

In just over 24 hours, he's more than a tenth of the way there.

For one day (and the end of the workweek, too), that's nothing short of phenomenal.

But this means that 9/10 must still be raised. So we have work to do.

If you can give, wonderful. But I know how tough times are right now. So even if you can't, please share the link to his GoFundMe page, with everyone you know. Facebook, Twitter, blogs, news sites, listservs, GoogleGroups, e-mail, word-of-mouth, print-outs shared by hand — please share this every way you can think of, with every single person you know. You never know who will be in a position to give generously and will be moved to do so.

I'll be back tomorrow to promote it again. Yes, you're going to have to listen to me for a while. Sorry about that. Well, not really, but you know what I mean.

Here's that link again: Bobby's GoFundMe page. You know what to do.

Chi miigwech.

Fineena: Almost home. Let's get her the rest of the way there.

Photo copyright Fineena; all rights reserved.

This is Fineena's new house. Well, we hope it's hers. 

After surviving a heart attack and other serious medical problems all while being evicted by a particularly nasty landlord, living out of a motel, boarding her beloved four-legged family members at the vet's, and just having life cave in around her, she's still managed to poke her head out into the world, look around, and find a solution. This is it, and it's a sweet little place: just shy of 700 square feet, two bedrooms, hard-wood floors, a fully-fenced yard for the dogs (and a landlord willing to accept them), and, as she says, "about two streets over from where [she] grew up."

Can't get much more serendipitous than that.

To pay for deposits, first month's rent, utility hook-ups, dog boarding fees, motel expenses, and everything else involved in a sudden move, the total comes to something over three grand. A big chunk of that has already been raised, and she's managed to get the utility deposits paid already. At last count, $1,784 is still needed to take care of the rental fees and deposits, etc.

She's not asking for charity; she still has quite a few scarves and cowls in her etsy shop inventory of woven art (and gift certificates, too!). You can go there and buy something, get something absolutely beautiful for yourself or for a gift, and help a good cause. Something like this, one of the current objects of my lust:

Photo copyright Fineena; all rights reserved.

Nice, huh? There's a lot more here.

Or, if you truly don't need anything but you'd like to donate to help out, you can go to PayPal.com and enter her e-mail address: PALSKaren [at] aol [dot] com.

So lets reduce some of her stress, help her heal, get her reunited with her dogs, and get her housed in a safe place. Every little bit helps. And even if you're not in a position to give, you can share this link with everyone you know. Hey, you never know who might desperately need a gorgeous new scarf!

Chi miigwech.

 

Who will save your soul? A horse named Ana, and her family.

Photo copyright Bobby and Juan; all rights reserved.

Sometimes, even a sanctuary needs a little salvation. And saving a sacred space is something that, for me, anyway, feels like it might just help save my soul a little, too.

At the very least, it'll bank a little good karma.

And I can't think of any space more sacred than one that serves as a refuge — more, as a place of safety and of sheer unbridled joy — for our four-legged and feathered relatives. So I'm in. So is Wings.

Here's the deal.

Last night, I posted a squib based on Sara R's diary for my friend Bobby, who has lately suffered the kind of losses no one should have to endure. Juan, the love of his life, gone last month, far too soon, after repeated valiant battles with cancer. The loss of the restaurant they opened together, where Bobby was chef, because he needed to take care of Juan. Now, the impending loss of their beloved family members, the animals they rescued and whose love they shared. And, ultimately, the loss of the farm itself — and if the farm, which is itself a sanctuary, goes, there will be no hope of getting their animals back.

Bobby needs to raise $12,000. There's a little time to reach the entire goal, and yes, it's a big one. But it can be done. In amounts large and small, big donations and widow's mites.  We're in for $50 to start things off. There'll be more down the road, but that's what we can do right now to get the ball rolling. 

Can you match it?

If you can, can you give more? If you can't, can you give $25, or $10, or $5? If you're reading this, there's one thing I know you can do, and that's share the link to bobby's GoFundMe page.

So please: Go to his page. Read it. Read the whole thing. It will make you weep, but it will also make you laugh out loud, and it will touch your heart and sear your soul with the love and beauty in it — so much love, and so much beauty, that it's almost physically painful to witness, and yet such a blessing. Something sacred.

And then send it to every single person you know. Daily Kos, other blogs, Facebook, Twitter, other social media platforms, e-mail, cross-posting, reposting, word-of-mouth. All of it. And, of course, give if you can. 

I'll be flogging this until the goal is reached, of course.

Please help me help our friend.

Here's that link again.

Chi miigwech.

Power. So simple. So necessary. Let's get it back for Alexandra and Bear.

Photo copyright Alexandra Lynch; all rights reserved.

This is Bear. He's the husband of my friend Alexandra.

And when I say, "This is Bear," I mean exactly that:  This is him, right now, today. In the hospital, hooked up to a ventilator.

Life has not been kind to Alexandra and Bear and their family in recent years. They both deal with disabling conditions resulting from a very bad car accident some years ago. Their medical conditions, coupled with a bad economy, have reduced the family finances to dust. I didn't know how bad it was until last week, when Alexandra mentioned that their utilities had been off. For a while.

Unfortunately, last week, Bear what they thought was a routine asthma attack but turned out to be something much, much worse. Heart attack, coupled with diabetes. Multiple blockages, none less than 70%. By the first of this week, he was in the hospital, undergoing a quintuple bypass. He's still a young man. A young man now with five bypasses in the arteries of his heart.

Meanwhile, Alexandra has to cope with his condition, which has to be terrifying for her. He's in good shape overall, apparently, but there are, of course, some complications. Meanwhile, she has family responsibilities, both children and parents — and hot weather looming, and no power on in the house. 

This is not workable.

Even in the absolute best-case scenario, Bear will need the power on to refrigerate his insulin when he finally comes home. But he will also need air conditioning to provide some relief from the heat and humidity; his condition can't be aggravated by severe physical discomfort that's easily fixed with a little electricity and the money to pay for it.

Alexandra has put up a GoFundMe page to try to raise $2,000.  This will get any arrearages covered and get the power turned back on. But she and Bear are going to need a lot more support than just a little electricity in the weeks and months to come. Their lives have just been altered in catastrophic ways. They'll need help over the long term.

So please, go here, and donate if you can. Even if you can't, please share the link with all of your networks. We'll be in for a bit ourselves later, when I've had a chance to see where we are for the rest of the month. At that point, I'll ask you to help match it, however modest it may be.

Let's get Bear back to doing what he loves:

Photo copyright Alexandra Lynch; all rights reserved.

and Alexandra back to being able to smile like this without thinking about it:

Photo copyright Alexandra Lynch; all rights reserved.

Chi miigwech.

This is Ana. Her human, Bobby, is my friend. They both need our help.

Photo credit Bobby and Juan; all rights reserved.

This is Ana. She's not so little now, but she's a spirit girl. She's survived some real horrors to grow into a beautiful, brave, sensitive horse.

My friend Bobby belongs to her. So did the love of Bobby's life, Juan, who lost his lengthy and courageous battle with cancer a few weeks ago.

And now they both need our help.

During Juan's final illness, Bobby did what any loving husband would do: He gave up everything to take care of Juan until his spirit moved on. That meant closing his restaurant, ceasing work as a professional chef, simply dropping everything to do the thousand and one things that needed doing during Juan's last weeks.

And now, he's about to lose everything they shared together — all their memories, bound up in their four-legged family members, the goats, the dogs, and the horses. Including Ana.

Sara R has a diary up for him, here, with more of the story. I'm hoping that we can talk him into crowdfunding efforts to save his family. [And, yes, they are family. Ours are, too, and I could no more sell them than cut off and sell a limb. I know this has to be killing him.] 

For now, go visit Sara's heartbreaking diary, and if you can donate, please do.  Go to PayPal.com and use his e-mail address, here:  nuevopionero [at] gmail [dot] com.

If there are new developments in terms of how to give, I'll post them here as soon as I know more.

Chi miigwech.

A Little Help for a Friend (and a Talented Fiber Artist Besides)

Scarf by Fineena.
Photo copyright Wings, 2013, 2014; all rights reserved.

Update before posting: Wings and I are in for $50; it's already been sent. This is not a purchase; it's a donation. Can you match it? If so, go to PayPal.com and use this e-mail address: PALSKaren@aol.com. And if you can't, please help by sharing this with everyone in your real-life, e-mail, and social media networks.

This seems to be the year of the housing crisis. Already. How many of these have I done so far just since the beginning of 2014? Too many.

I mean, we're still in the throes of our own, and I don't expect that to change anytime soon, but we at least have had time to adjust. Our current digs are . . . well, to call them modest is still grandiose; it's not even a house. But we've managed to make it [mostly] functional, and relatively comfortable, and despite it all, we have each other and the animals and we get by.

Not everyone is so lucky.

My peeps at DK know her as Fineena. Some of you know who by her "real" name, too, but I'm not going to post that here unless she decides she wants me to do so for some reason. But I saw that peregrine kate, beautiful soul that she is, has a diary posted for her, and I figured if I can't help out there yet, at least I can post one in support over here.

Fineena, like a lot of us, has been through ten kinds of hell in recent years. The difference between her and some of us, though, is that she's doing it alone. Her only faithful companions are her Airedales, and they're currently boarding with her vet; whatever else happens, Fineena MUST be able to find housing that will accommodate her dogs. This is non-negotiable. Her life has already been put at grave risk by medical concerns (outlined below), and the stress of homelessness is only adding to that. But I can say from firsthand experience, knowing what it was like when I had no one in the world by my dogs: Losing them would kill her.

And that can't happen.

Follow me over the jump to see just what this lovely woman has been battling alone for so long, and find out how you can help.

The Westeros Wing

President Obama is a big fan, too. [Yes, it's Photoshopped, but it's still hellishly cool. Particularly since it was sent out as an actual White House Tweet.]

Good thing the creator is a liberal Democrat, yes?

Hmmm . . . .  I wonder whether we should send one of Wings's photos from his one-man show to the President and First Lady as a gift? 

In the meantime, back to promoting the final six days of said show. Links are in descending order of importance for sending them viral. You know what to do:

Jean Cocteau Cinema Facebook page official announcement.
Jean Cocteau Cinema Web site official announcement.
My official announcement here.

And please:  Share those links, not the link to this post.

Thanks.