homogenius is a long time Kossack, who has been with the site since January, 2005. He actually came to the site earlier, during the Jeff Gannon fiasco, and he is the cofounder of KosAbility. Like many of our fellow Kossacks, he's endured a lot of hard times, and while I don't well him well enough to say things are currently at their worst for him, they're pretty darn tough, and he could really use some help to try and play catch-up. We ran a couple of fundraisers for him a long while back, but never made it to our admittedly high goals.
With Kossack help, he was able to get a new prosthetic leg, without which he would not be working now, but he still owes more on that. I'll let him speak for himself below the squiggle du Kos to share just what all is going on with him atm.
(My bolds)
I've been working for 14 months at barely above minimum wage in the tourism industry (think WalMart with rides, balloons, cute characters, and fancy costumes--I'm in SoCal--you do the math). I'm two months behind in rent with no medical insurance, getting a little more behind every month. I'm less than two months from a probable dental crisis; I couldn't eat tender ribs with family yesterday because my two remaining lower molars are both broken, jagged wrecks and one of them hasn't had a root canal. My wonderful prosthetist took care of me, but I still owe $1000 on his greatly reduced bill, even after the two fundraisers here at DKos. I can't afford new glasses and everything is blurry, both close and far. In addition, I'm taking care of my elderly parents who are both in assisted living and I'm contributing around $200 per month.
I've been doing everything I can to reduce expenses. I get a free bus pass from work plus $1 per day for commuting, even though it adds another hour round trip. I take my lunch to work, which consists of a boxed frozen meal for 88 cents to a dollar. My only entertainment is movies on cable, which are included in my rent. I have a cell phone on my landlady's account which gives me 500 minutes for $14 a month. I reduced this from the unlimited plan to save $20. I'm running out of costs to cut.
I have very little of family treasures left to sell--anything left would go for pennies on the dollar. I go to work every day, but I'm weeks or maybe a few months away from meltdown again. The assistance of Kossacks helped me to survive the last 16 months and my situation has improved. But I'm still skating on thin ice.
Like many other Kossacks, he doesn't really like to ask for help, but he knows that pride is a luxury few of us can afford these days. Losing his housing last year was a major shock, but he survived...but survival is a daily battle for the working poor in America.
I'm worried about dipping into the well again, especially with so many people in need. But, I'm terrified of having a dental emergency, I need to make good with my landlady and prosthetist, and need to prevent a total meltdown.
I've had many great experiences since this whole crisis began over a year ago. I was blown away by the support of everyone at DKos. Going back to work (no matter that I was going back to my post-high school employer) helped me emotionally.
But I'm wearing out. I spent the last three days out in the blazing sun with no shade working at a location I love, but which left me depleted and dehydrated.
I'm open to suggestions. I feel like I'm peddling as fast as I can and falling further and further behind. I don't want to put my landlady in the position of having to kick me out--she doesn't deserve that. My best friend and his wife have been my saviors--they have been incredibly generous. I have no real family. I'm holding on, but I'm running out of options.
I'm not going to tell homogenius what to do with whatever we raise, but I'd love to see us get him current on his rent, (He's around $1100 behind), knock a chunk off the remaining thousand of the prosthesis bill (the full price would have been over $6k before the prosthetist wrote off all the labor and a friend gave him a nearly new hi-tech foot), and maybe get at least some attention to those teeth. If we could do all that and have enough left over for new glasses, I'd be blown away.
Heck, I'm always blown away by the generosity you folks display, I'm just hoping for another 'Touched by a Kossack' tearjerker internet special to keep homogenius with a roof over his head, the ability to eat, to walk, and to see.
So where does your money go?
The fast way: Log on to Paypal.com and send money to Homogenius001@aol.com
(Please note: There is a name with the initial's DL on the PayPal account. This might be confusing if you know HomoGee's secret identity.)
The slow way: Kosmail homogenius and he'll send you his mailing address.
And if you are tapped out, please send your good wishes and thoughts and prayers for homogenius, or even volunteer to host this dairy again - I'd like to run at least 3 or 4 times to try and make sure our site members who have different schedules for logging in get a chance to see this.
For whatever you can do, thank you.