Thank you for taking the time to read this plea for help.My wife and I are veterans of the United States Army, and we have a four year old daughter. I was the last one to leave the military,after more than 5 years on active duty I was medically discharged from the Army in August 2003. I was trained in Satellite Communications, I also have excellent Computer Technician skills.Despite my qualifications I have been unable to get a decent job.The first six months I couldn't find a job, when we started to run out of money we called my father for assistance. We were living in Georgia at the time so with the last of our money we packed up our three bedroom apartment and headed to Tennessee to live with my father temporarily. 

When we arrived we placed all of our things into storage and moved into a single bedroom for the three of us.We were trying to find employment and/or ways to improve our situation. After a week and a half things took a turn for the worst,we got into an altercation with my father and his wife in regards to our daughter. During that altercation we came to the realization that my father and his wife were not stable due to drugs and alcohol and that we should not stay there anymore. My father came to a similar more diluted conclusion and threw us out.

So with no money we threw everything we could fit into our car and drove to my mothers in Connecticut. (this was about Feburary 2004)In order to make it there we had to run up our credit cards. We ended up again in an unstable situation since my mother was selling here house we could stay for an undetermined amout of time, so again we seek employment. When we got our tax return we payed off most of our credit cards and between me and my wife we managed to make enough to pay our credit cards and car payments, but we certainly weren't making enough money to pay for rent or utiities.

With the economy being so bad in Connecticut we could not find employment again. We stayed with my mother for a couple months then her house was sold and we had to move again. I had made living arrangements for my family prior to this event knowing that it was inevitable however those arrangments fell through on the very day we needed to move. One of my friends was nice enough to let us stay with him for a while even though he didn't have room. (God bless him) Our previous job hunting was now meaningless now that our phone number had changed yet again so we decided that we needed a cell phone to keep that from happening again. We still were only able to find minimum wage part time employment which was enough to pay our obligations but not enough to pay our friend rent or get a place of our own.

These arrangements worked for a couple months as well until nosy neighbors called his landlord. They gave him two weeks to get us out of his place before they would try to evict him. Not wanting my friend to get evicted for helping us in a time of need we managed to borrow $3000 from a friend of mine so that we could move into our own place. So we managed to get our own one bedroom apartment and prevent our friend from being evicted because of us.

Since then it has only gotten worse. I was working two jobs trying to make ends meet but was unable to make enough money. In trying to figure out a way out of this mess we came up with a plan. Since I got married I have been trying to find out what my wife would like to do, what kind of things is she passionate about, well after five years we have found out together (since she didn't know herself what she wanted). She would like to be an Automotive Technician having always been curious about cars and such. So the plan is to try and put her through a tech school for automotive technician and try to get me into college in 2005 since the military will pay a portion of the cost.

The problem is that we need more than the cost of the school, we aslo need money to live off of since we are not making ends meet right now. We have tried several times to get a student loan for this purpose but we have been declined every time. The state is of no help what so ever. We have not been able to pay our bills or utilities for two or three months. Due to our situation only one of us can work at a time. My wife goes to school in the moring while I stay at home with our daughter and the when she comes home I go to work in the evenings. I can no longer work two jobs since I have no time to sleep.

Which brings our income down to about $800 a month and our rent being $675 a month. It is getting to the point where we wont be able to pay our rent then we will need to worry about being evicted on top of everything else.All our bills are not getting payed, bill collectors are calling several times a day. Our insurance for our car will soon stop our coverage. Our car is in danger of being repossesed. None of our utilites are getting paid, its only a matter of time before our electricity, gas, and phone is turned off. Our cable has already been turned off, Everything we own is still in storage in Tennessee. I work part time for $8.00 an hour. Full time empoloyment is so hard to find around here right now.

My daughter will be starting school this year, how can I get and/or keep her in school if I can't keep a roof over her head? How will I explain to her why she won't have a birthday this year? I was so hoping that I could get the loan and be able to do this without going to this extreme but I have no choice. I have exhausted all of my resources and do not know what to do. Putting up this site is very hard for me because in doing this I have to admit that I have failed my family. I am unable to provide for them without help at this point.

Our financial plan is for the next 12 months. If we can raise $40,000 dollars we can reduce our monthly expenses from $2,400 a month to $1,300 a month, pay the remainder of the school tuition, and have living expenses for 12 months. How will this help you ask? Here is how, Once my wife gets out of school she should have no problem getting a job since the demand for auto technicians is through the roof(the school she is in has a placement rate of 96% after graduation) and the pay is very good starting around $30.00 an hour. Plus while I am in school (if I can afford the application fee) I will get money from the army. So as you can see this plan should get us back on our feet completely.

We are still doing everything we can to try and fix this ourselves but we need your help. Any donation at all would help us out immensly. Mathematically if we can reach 40,000 people and each one of the donates a dollar we can reach our goals. Please help us to stablize our situation for our little girl, she should not have to grow up in a situation like this. Thank you again for taking the time to read our plea for help.


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