Help My Mother Get the Help She Needs

My mother, Angela, is seriously ill. We’ve been ripped off in real estate and home repair, with the end result being a leaky, mold-infested house and my mother (who is seriously alergic to household molds) coughing up chunky lung snot and struggling to breathe.

Her allergist says she needs to get away from the things she’s allergic to for at least a month, and recommends Arizona. She needs to stay there for at least a month for her lungs to heal completely, and he has a laundry list of other physicians she’s to see while there.

Financially speaking, this is going to hurt. And I haven’t even told you about the $9,000 or so we’ve already spent on health care and crooked contractors since this whole mess started. To learn the whole story of how I came to be asking you for money on my weblog, read this post. It’s a long one, but you’ll understand why I’m doing this once you’re through. Go ahead; I’ll wait right here until you get back…

Sucks, doesn’t it? If you’re read enough and want to help out, just click the button below to donate via PayPal. If you’d like to know more about my fundraising goals and how the money will be used, please read on.

Please remember that I’m not a registered non-profit organization, and you shouldn’t try to claim any monetary donations you make to this cause on your tax return. You can, however, claim my sincere gratitude and slightly better karma than you had just a few minutes earlier.

Fundraising Goals

The over-arching goals of this fundraising campaign are to gather enough donations to get my mother to Tucson and back for the medical care she needs and to keep my family from going under as a result of all the crap that’s befallen us in the last year and a half. I’ve split the targets for this fundraising campaign into three cumulative levels (all amounts in US Dollars):

  • Level 1: $600 Achieved August 4th! Thank you to all those who've given so far. Let's keep spreading the word and push on to Level 2!
    • This is the least that I hope to raise. It will cover the cost to finish fixing our home while my mother and I are away in Tucson.
  • Level 2: $5,000
    • Includes the Level 1 goal and will also pay for the trip to Tucson and at least some of the medical expenses incurred there.
  • Level 3: $15,000
    • This is the Big Goal, the one I’ll go all Roberto-Benigni-at-the-Oscars if I actually meet. It covers all of Level 1 and Level 2, plus paying off the debt we’ve accumulated from unethical contractors and Angela’s worsening health.

We’re still trying to find ways to save money or gather some money so that this trip can happen without breaking us financially, so...

My Promise to You: I promise that the goals above are absolute, and that any money raised from our other efforts will be counted toward the goals laid out above. I further promise that any substantial savings we manage to uncover (e.g. cheaper car rental) will cause these goal amounts to drop since less money will be needed. Finally, I promise that once our fundraising goals are met I will stop taking donations for this trip.

When I get some time, I’ll make up one of those snazzy thermometer-esque graphics that show how far we’ve gotten toward our fundraising goals. Meanwhile, here's the low-tech version (updated daily):

Money Raised to Date: $1,464.25