Hard Times..ideas please

Rick,

You da man, buddy!

I will have you know that this thread is being discussed on another site whose name cannot be mentioned here, and some of the folks there also have expressed a willingness to help. With your permission, I will post your email addy there, so they can get in touch with you if they wish.

Have you set up a date/time to meet the OP? Do you know where they live? Perhaps some of us can accompany you, bring along some needed items, and put in a day's work making their shelter livable.

C'mon, folks, we can do this! A bunch of us from another website (Stellar Parthenon) got together 2 summers ago and actually *built a house* for one of our members who was disabled and needed help! And SP is much smaller than HT. There are thousands of people here. Let's get behind this!

OK, I am done shaking the ponpoms now. Rick, please update us with your plans, let's see if we can put together something here!

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"I love all of this mud," said no one, ever.

Hi Willow girl

I am signing off and leaving to meet with them after I post this.

If your gas tank is empty, your life is pretty much at a standstill- so I didn't want to wait or use snail mail. I will PM my phone numbers to you, and anyone who sends a PM, but I will be away until Evening.

Peace

I want to help but I don't get the Gmail thing....With paypal, don't you just need an email address? I guess I don't understand what Ricks email address is

EDIT...Nevermind...I figured it out

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Teach only Love...for that is what You are

Please don't make this a religious issue folks.

Willow Girl got me thinking about this.

We all bleed red. Everyone Jesus healed was a non-Christian.

Rick

Rick-- please PM me the PayPal info. I'll gladly help these people. I can not ignore the fact that they have 3 small children and are in serious need of some kindness.

Michelle

me too.

Please don't take this negatively. I'll be glad to donate, but I have some questions first. I am more than willing to help someone out, but some things don't sound right.

I really would like to hear about the caretakers job Tater PM'd them with; as well as twice Rose asked about the travel trailer they had but had no response about that.

Since fleas can be killed and you can do it yourself cheaply with bug bombs, vacuuming, DE, etc., why didn't you stay in the car for a night and do flea treatments yourself rather than depending on the landlord to do so? Plus, didn't you have job there waiting or better prospects of jobs? Why then would you leave without attempting jobs or housing elsewhere in the same area?

I'm also still not clear on if money is so tight, why are you not using cloth diapers? Even with income, the cost of disposable diapers would put gas in the car.

Finally, why would you move back to a place you know there is no work? If you were having to live in your car at that point, why not go to a metropolitan area where you know there will shelters, jobs (or at least temp companies), and better social services?

Not that I don't believe you or have compassion, but we've been through a situation like this not too long ago on HT that turned out VERY bad. A lot of us got burned and it was by someone we all knew very well. It wasn't the being burned financially, but in our hearts. It hurt bad to be taken in by one of our own. I totally hate being suspicious, but many of us have so little to give and want it to go where we know it will be used wisely.

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"Challenges are what make life interesting -- overcoming them is what makes life meaningful."

Karen, Rick is on the way right now to meet them. If things are not as they seem, I'm sure he will let us know.

If Pioneer decides the best thing to do is stay put at his mom's place for awhile, it would be pretty easy for a group of us to get together and winterize the shelter for him. Many hands makes the work light! If we can put together a work party to do this, and there's anyone in the Pittsburgh area who would like to go, they are welcome to ride along with me (I have a truck with a quad cab).

If it might be best for Pioneer and his family to move on to a location where there are better opportunities, his needs will be different accordingly. Soon, hopefully, we will have a game plan we can go by, to help this family do what's best for them.

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"I love all of this mud," said no one, ever.

I have to respond to this one, as I am the treasurer and statutory agent for our church, which is incorporated with the state of Ohio as a 501 3(c), meaning non-profit religious organization. If a church incorporates with the state under this, the church is not permitted to give anything of value (asset) to any private individual or any member of the church. They are only permitted to give to other organizations who are recognized by the state as non-profits. And, they do not have tax exempt status because of the charity work that they are supposed to do. The articles of incorporation simply state that they are there for religious instruction, period.

So, if you get turned down by a church, that is probably the reason why. Look for churches that are not incorporated, they will be your best bet.

That's not a unique situation. BTDT.I can sympathize with them. I have a really bad case of Rheumatoid arthritis. My joints lock up and swell up like balloons. Many days I can hardly get around at all. But I have applied for SSI several times and never get it.

I've known people even worse off than me who can't get disability.

I've also known people who get disability for drug or alcohol addiction who are able bodied. And I've known people who get disability and food stamps who also work full time under the table.

It's a screwed up system.

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Don't get suckered, Rick. Something doesn't pass the smell test with this guy.

1. He's on the computer an awful lot for someone who should be at least LOOKING for work.

2. He registered on this site in June but claims he got online with a "Netzero free 30 day trial" disc.

3. His mom has money to booze it up everyday, yet for some reason they are down to four diapers?

Not buying it.

See how you Godless Liberals are??

Yes, please PM me the PayPal inf too.

Respectfully to those who are posting doubts on this, I read back through this person's previous posts, I don't see anything inconsistent with the situation he now describes. There was never any mention of having a travel trailer, that must have been someone else. He has all along described being in a tough financial situation and being disabled, seems he is trying to do the best he can. I won't fault him for having internet, ALL of us here do...it is probably their best connection to the outside world right now. I am glad they have it. I am also in a tough financial situation right now, but we have kept dial-up which costs about $15 a month, and includes some free long-distance phone service. No cable TV or high-speed internet here, but probably some think we shouldn't even have the dial-up. However, I am currently using the Net to job-search, perhaps OP is doing the same. Also to the question about why they use disposable diapers, I would imagine it might be because they live in a house with no water, so how would they wash the cloth kind?
Let's wait to see what Rick finds out, before assuming this is a scam. The OP never actually asked for money, just for ideas on what to do. It was Rick's (very kind!) idea for folks here to help out. I'm sure as soon as he gets home, Rick will post about his visit, then folks can judge by that what they want to do.

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[COLOR="Blue"]Expect Little - That way you will be seldom disappointed.../COLOR]

Minelson, Can you pm me with how you figured it out? thanks. If this is not legit, I'd like to at least donate some gas money to Rick.

Alright, I will be pretty straight forward with this.

Modern Pioneer...
(a link to all of his posts) http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/sea...archid=1913723

are you also Jagger?
(Here are the links to all of Jaggers posts) http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/sea...archid=1913727

Was your wife Countrygirl26?
(Here are the links to all of her posts) http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/sea...archid=1913729

Is she currently momof3boys3cats?
(Here are the links to all of her posts) http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/sea...archid=1913733

I don't know the whole story, but if you answer these questions it may be able to help those who are on the fence with helping a bit.

Willow Girl, I trust you, if you make a trip down, please report back to us.

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Check us out out "The Modern Homestead", a small, helpful, friendly forum. Find us at "The Modern Homestead", on facebook too!

If you are receiving aid....do yourself a favor and don't buy expensive steaks, lobster type items. Stockpile a few things like beans and rice so that you can at least eat. Try to combine trips with mom or neighbors if at all possible. Rice bags heated in the microwave will keep you warm for awhile.
Save all those WIC milk jugs for water....rinse them real good with a bit of bleach and water and air dry.
Place an ad to clean out sheds and basements....you may find a good amount of treasure doing this.
Get some plastic sheeting w/ xtra $$$ and get yourself closed in. Buy some of the $4 emergency blankets that reflect body heat for the winter. Look for down comforters at goodwill.
It is possible to toilet train children under society norms (ages 2-3yo). My mom trained us early, before 18 months.

Contact your local senator as far as the disability goes, invite them to your dwelling so he/she can see for themselves your need.

In our closest city your family would have housing in 24hrs of seeking services.

I guess I don't see the point here because I can't get the links to work.

I do remember some time back a person having a hard time. Many of us here helped. I tried to help them to find work. It broke my heart when I found out they were being dishonest.

However, I read this thread and can't help but get tears in my eyes. It can be so frustrating to go through this type of thing. You get to where you feel hopeless and that is a horrible feeling. I know because I have been there.

So, I am hoping this works out well for this whole family. I'm sorry I don't have any help to give. Our emergency fund just went to buy a generator since we apparently have a hurricane on the way. If I was able though, I would certainly contribute. The most I can do is assist with links to work-at-home jobs. That will only help with permanent Internet though.

This may be an idea here....around here (Porter County) they give aid to help pooer folks improve their homes. In the county over, they will compleatly remodel your home---the kick being that if you sell it you have to pay them back but if you keep it, no pay back. Perhaps your county has a similar program? Also, if you can, put in some fall crops into the garden. Greens grow fairly quickly.

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It's not that I don't like mankind, I just like nature a whole lot more.

I don't know about everybody else, but these posts have even helped us by reminding us where we can cut back and to take another looks around. So thanks to everybody that's had a hand in posting here.

I always like reading the replies in threads like this to see if I can get ideas to help my own situation.

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