Dear friends and kind hearts,
I have a friend who has had an undeserved rough time of things over the past 3 years. I’ve known Joe since we were children and I’d like to share with you his story.
Joe was a good husband, father and member of the community. He volunteered in his community and was also a volunteer firefighter. Joe’s descent into depression seemed to have begun after his brother’s suicide. He loved his brother deeply and had him as his best man at his wedding, I was his groomsman. Joe didn’t take his brother’s death well. I feel that he somehow blamed himself.
A week after the funeral Joe’s sister was diagnosed with breast cancer. Joe and his sister were also very close. He was a groomsman at her wedding. I enjoyed hearing the stories of when they were children. Five years she came to visit him in November, they both knew that their time together was limited. He was so proud of her. He would brag about how strong and brave she was. It was clear, at least to me that as time drew to a close for his sister he would become more withdrawn. It was hard to see him go through this. Men are supposed to be strong but even the strongest of men would break under the stress and circumstances that would follow.
In the time between his brother’s passing and his sister’s passing Joe’s wife left him and their two children citing that she needed to care for herself. He now found himself being a single Dad. I really don’t know how he stayed so strong because life wouldn’t be done challenging him. Six months after moving into a small house that his kids could call home the company he worked for was purchased and he was laid off. He was able to secure work with a small renovation company but two years later that company would close it’s doors owing him 6 weeks wages.
Undetered, Joe set out to establish his own renovation company. He was successful for 18 months when there was a down turn in the economy and he once again found himself needing work. He landed a job with a restoration company that would ultimately seek to destroy him after five years of loyal service.
During those five years Joe was estranged by his children. I say here unjustly so and I believe that he was the victim of parental alienation when his wife decided become a part of their now adult children’s lives. Joe has only seen his grand daughter a few times and has never met his 3 year old grandson.
With an empty house Joe took in his parents in after they were evicted from their lease and they took over his house and lived rent free for nearly 2 years before they could secure residence in a retirement lodge.
While this was happening he started being harassed by a supervisor at work, all this was driving him into a deeper depressive state. With a lot of coaxing he started to see a doctor for his depression. Again with an empty house he decided that he would rent out rooms to help pay down his mortgage as quick as possible so that he could invest in his retirement. As luck would have it Covid19 struck that month and any plans to rent out rooms went up in smoke. Six months later he would attempt to end his life. His employer promised accommodation while he was being treated for major depression but instead keeping that promise his employer would escalate the harassment subjecting him to gaslighting, misleading instructions, micromanagement, sabotage and denying him basic human rights.
Joe just doesn’t deserve to be treated like this, no one whether living with depression or not does. Every person that he helped would end up stealing from him, others taking advantage of his situation, the city, realtors, scammers, family. Most of what I thought were his friends turned their backs on him. As he was losing his home the city would be harassing him as he tried to cope. He sold his vehicles in an attempt to save his house that he ultimately lost along with most of his possessions.
Joe was a model employee, outperforming his peers, every job profitable with 100% client satisfaction. It was six months after he was unjustly fired that I figured out that his former employer was painting him in a bad light.
Joe now lives in a broken down minivan, he’s been hospitalized for his depression. He doesn’t have the resources to renew his driver’s licence, insure a vehicle or even have a vehicle that he could use for work. He’s lost in there area of a quarter million believing and investing in people.
I feel like I’m failing him because I’m unable to help him anymore than I have been and so I’m reaching out to kind people such as yourselves to please lend a hand. I don’t want to lose my dear friend and I hate seeing him lose his faith in humanity.
In order to help this kind man get back on his feet I’m hoping to raise $10,000 so that he can at least have a vehicle to go to work with, regain his dignity and hopefully gather up some of the pieces of his broken life.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart. God bless!