When things have seemed to reach the lowest point in my life, this community is always there for me. Whether through listening to what I have to say when seemingly no one else will, or helping me out in times of my worst financial crises, everyone here has stepped up and helped out. People have gone way beyond anything I've ever experienced in my non-internet life. I almost lost my computer, internet and my savings, as well as a long-planned trip to go visit my best friend (something I've been trying to do for a decade) and Kossacks offered to help - even when I had to be dragged into asking for help.
As much as we argue here and take opposing positions on issues and strategies, we're all in this together and we're on the same side. Someone might not like my aggressiveness in advocating for certain issues but when I need support, that someone is right here offering it. And now it's time for us to help someone else out, emeraldmaiden, one of our community members, is reaching out to us and she needs us to reach back.
She wrote a diary, I'm Scared, about her situation. Along with her diary, comments she posted in the diary expressed an even more tragic situation. It's bleak, and it's upsetting. JekyllnHyde, who started this effort, described her current living situation, starting with a business that is going under:
Significant health problems, sharply falling revenues, her husband chasing low-paying jobs, and stress have all contributed to a deteriorating financial situation, with all of their retirement savings long gone. A chronic hip injury (which may require hip replacement surgery at a relatively young age) has severely limited her mobility while enduring constant pain. All of this has resulted in bills past due and creditors knocking on their doors.
Let me be blunt: there's no way we're going to allow this to happen to her. We don't have to raise all that much money, and aside from that, you get to win prizes from donating! And the prizes are awesome. But let me underscore this: we aren't going to just stand by and let one of our community members fight these things alone. We're going to be right there every step of the way fighting alongside her and helping her get back on her feet.
If you can donate, and you like prizes then please help us. We need a strong push for some generous donations to wrap this up and help out someone who desperately needs it.
Here's what you could win in the drawing:
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A Beautiful Handmade Quilt By Sara R
"Cornucopia" is a charm quilt of "tumbler" blocks, all of photorealistic fruits and vegetables. It is meant to represent plenty, abundance.
The quilt is 58" x 62" and is sleeved for hanging on a wall. The backing fabric looks like Indian corn. The fabric and the batting are all cotton – and the quilt is entirely quilted by hand by Sara R.
It was designed and pieced by her, as well!
(Link to emeraldmaiden's PayPal Account)
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An Original Painting by boran2
A longtime community member, boran2 is also one of the "Top Comments" diarists and has posted hundreds of diaries on painting.
This is a 4x5 inch acrylic on canvas painting. It depicts a Hudson River overpass at dusk. It is painted on thick gallery wrapped canvas and can stand on its own. It was painted in April of 2010.
(Link to emeraldmaiden's PayPal Account)
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Six Additional Prizes
Additional prizes have been added, including the above lovely necklace/earring set (larger images) courtesy of Purple Priestess.
emeraldmaiden is giving away 200 yards of homespun yarn in any color the winner wants (especially if it's Daily Kos orange)! This is absolutely beautiful stuff. And the lovely Chacounne is donating two hand-embroidered (blackwork) bookmarks, in the winner's choice of pattern from a selection she will provide. gloriana is offering one hand-made bobbin lace bookmarks (see sample pic). Pootie Queen triciawyse has donated three paintings (scroll down in comment for pics). And, last but not least, Chun Yang is offering a gorgeous batik pillow.
Here's a description of the batik pillow by Chun Yang: it is 14 by 14 inches, a removable cotton cover that I batiked with soy wax, hand dyed in a low-immersion way (minimum water). I then added some deColorant to it (thanks for the tip, Sara R!) which took out some color in the design and added a bit of color. The pillow inside is foam and nice and firm.
(Link to emeraldmaiden's PayPal Account)
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Here are the rules for the drawing, to be conducted after we have reached our targeted goal of raising a minimum amount of $5,000.00 (hopefully more). Even this amount will provide emeraldmaiden and her family relief for only a few weeks. To be sure, your donations will alleviate some of her many difficulties.
HOW TO WIN ONE OF THE EIGHT PRIZES
1. Anyone can make a donation of $5.00, $10.00, $20.00, $50.00, $100.00, or higher. A donation of $10.00 or higher counts as one entry to win one of the eight prizes.
2. So as to give more chances to everyone, the same person can only win one of the eight prizes.
3. You can make a donation by clicking this Link to emeraldmaiden's PayPal Account and paying by PayPal or credit card.
4. If you prefer to mail your donation through the U.S. Mail, email emeraldmaiden at emeraldmaiden@gmail.com and she will provide you with her mailing address. You can also message her through the DK4 messaging system.
5. If for some reason you are unable to make a donation, you can also enter the drawing by writing a brief diary (a couple of pages would suffice) on this topic: "What Should the Obama Administration and the U.S. Congress Do to Alleviate the Plight of the Unemployed and Underemployed?" Once you have written the diary, do inform emeraldmaiden by emailing her (emeraldmaiden@gmail.com) and providing a link to your diary so she can enter you in the drawing.
6. Once the fundraiser is closed, emeraldmaiden will send all the entries to Sara R, who will conduct the drawing, notify the winners, and ship the quilt. boran2 will ship the painting and other prize donors will do so likewise after being informed by Sara R.
7. If you have any other questions about the fundraiser, email me at jekyllnhyde2@gmail.com or message me through DK4. If you have never used this feature before, enter my Daily Kos ID JekyllnHyde in the "To" section, subject heading, your message, preview, and send. It's that easy!
(Link to emeraldmaiden's PayPal Account)
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For those of us who have jobs or own businesses or, even, are privileged enough to have some inherited money, we should consider ourselves lucky. Millions of our fellow citizens have absolutely nothing. Many without health insurance are one major illness away from economic catastrophe or bankruptcy. A bit of bad luck here and there and many of us could as easily be in that abysmal situation.
I hope that you will consider donating as much as possible. I am appealing to the better angels of your nature to do so.
PLEASE DONATE GENEROUSLY. Thank you.
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Link to emeraldmaiden's PayPal Account