Hello, I’m Dana. And I am a single mother seeking financial assistance, to help me out of the slump I’ve had to create for myself. This is difficult for me, because I’ve always been responsible for myself and my kids. Through education, I fought hard to get off of welfare. I’ve been in the workforce for quite a while, but I’m constantly living paycheck to paycheck. Even though I’ve been on my job for several years, I’m still having a hard time making ends meet. And things have very recently escalated. Last November, my father passed away. And he didn’t have life insurance, a beneficiary or anything in place to make burying him not such a difficult task. I begged him, for years, to have a will drawn up. He said he didn’t have anything of value, so it didn’t matter. He wouldn’t listen to reason. And after he died, I had to pick up the pieces. So, I had to use my entire retirement to pay for my father’s final expenses. (I’d been at my job for 13 years. And 13 years of only being able to afford a minimum contribution is all gone). It wasn’t just a funeral. He had two vehicles, which are, now, in my name. Neither vehicle has any real value. I’m going to have to junk them. But I couldn’t legally do that, until they were in my name. He was a hoarder. So, I had a lot of cleanup to do. It was overwhelming, and I needed help. Cleanup costs was in the thousands, and I’ve had to do everything on my own. Plus, he rented and was two months behind on his rent, so that had to be paid, before I could even get inside his house, to start the cleanup process. I live paycheck to paycheck, and this has gotten me deeper and deeper in debt. I get paid twice a month. I no longer have anything in my retirement, and I’ll be 55 this year. And my entire next check will be taken by my bank. So, I won’t see any of it on July 15, 2025. I already owe my friend quite a sum, for loaning me money to be able to travel to Johns Hopkins, in Baltimore, from KC. I had to pay for transportation, hotel and food. My autistic son had to go with me, because he can’t stay at home by himself, especially for 3 days. I’ll have another visit to the hospital in September and will be in the same predicament. The reason I’m going to an out of town doctor is because mine has done everything he could to fix my Eustachian Petulant Dysfunction problem. He’s sent other patients to this same doctor, and they’ve been helped. I just needed to get there. I tried toughing out my problem for 2 years, but my hearing has been greatly impacted. And I have a callcenter job, so I live on the phone. Everything has to be turned up loudly, so I can hear every word. I did start off with hearing aids for both of my ears, but I lost one. In order to replace it, I would have to had paid $300. But the local specialist I saw, after getting and losing the hearing aids, said they wouldn’t be much help anyway. He was correct. It was like wearing earbuds, to listen to music, but I still had the same problem. So, amplification wasn’t the answer. Having this problem is like trying to hear under water 24/7. Petulant drops, holding my nostrils closed while blowing, etc., did nothing. Sometimes, chewing gum will make my ears pop open, but that’s hit or miss. Airplane rides really help, but that, of course, works for a few seconds while taking off. My credit is crap. I used to not have a car payment, but between the expenses of my father’s stuff and my hearing problem expenses, I got a temporary fix. I took out a lien on my car. It was only enough to get me current for a month, but I desperately needed the money. Looking back, if my father had life insurance or even burial insurance and was more prepared, I could’ve used just a portion of my retirement to get me back on track, help pay for my out of town doctor visits, and not have to take out a lien on my car. And I’m praying this doctor can fix my ears in just one visit. He reqiuied a hearing test first, which is the reason for the first visit. (I tried getting both appointments on the same day, but the earliest he had was November 4, 2025). And I could see why. Their methods and equipment was way more sophisticated than the in the clinic at home. With all that said, I’m reaching out, pride aside, because I have to be able to pay off the lien holder and keep my car, my job, pay off my bills, and try to rebuild my retirement. I am truly grateful and appreciative of any financial support you can give. Unfortunately, I can’t pay you back financially. But this is for a good cause. Again, this is a very difficult thing for me to do. I clean up my own messes and take care of my own responsibilities. But I don’t have a way of fixing this, even before I get paid. Here’s what I owe my bank: $1,100.48. I usually get around $1,100 per paycheck, paid twice a month. My rent is $1,335 per month. My electric/water/sewage bill is behind, at $407.86. My heating bill (thank goodness it’s summer) is $76.54. My car insurance is $295.90 for the extra cars. I have storage, $155, for my and my father’s things, because I had a limited amount of time to clear out his house, and I was doing it, mostly, alone. I had to doing something at the time, because I was also missing work and not getting paid, and I didn’t have enough room in my home for his stuff and mine. I have an Internet/phone/cable bundle that is also behind, at $287.99. My cell phone bill is behind, at $163.15. The lien on my car isn’t behind yet but will be, if my bank doesn’t pay them, after they’ve taken my entire check, $186.68. I have many other, smaller bills, that are nickel and diming me to death. But those are the bigger bills.