Flooded Tags

My husband is a disabled, retired Army veteran. About 10 years ago he purchased a camp in Maine that he planned to fix up and move into for his retirement. Unfortunately he has suffered flood damage twice, once he had flood insurance, or thought he did, but the insurance company refused to pay saying they hadn't processed the payment on the day he opened the policy and the flooding occured over the weekend so he was not covered! The second flooding FEMA came in and didn't bother going under the house so they only gave him $800! Both times the flooding destroyed all the insulation and a great deal of work. He now has to jack up the house, have a foundation put in, then level everything in the house. He cannot live there. He applied for an equity loan from the bank as the property is valued at $139K and there is no mortgage. But we have moved to Nevada as I was offered a job here that paid better than back east. We want nothing more than to get this house fixed up in Maine so we can either sell it or possibly retire there. Right now if someone was willing to give an equity loan of $40,000, we would take that instead of begging. Please consider helping us before this Maine house gets flooded again and we lose everything there. If each person who reads this can only give $1, it wouldn't take long to reach our goal and then we could give back in the future!

Recently my house has flooded due to a back up in the sewage line in my neighborhood. My entire carpeting, vinyl, and a foot from all my walls. This has amounted to a bill of $2250. I am a teacher at the elementary level so this bill is more than I make in a month. Also this is not the only bill I have to fund. If interested I do have pictures, they have refused to do any of the rebuild until I am able to pay them.

My Daughter is 6 with severe autism, she has never spoke. She is in diapers and drinks pediasure for her nourishment. We had to take her to a long awaited doctors appointment. While three cities over for 2 days, a sewer main broke outside and our basement flooded. It ruined all the kids bedding and sheets. I am so broke, I can barely afford to replace the clothing ruined. All my daughters wall decals are ruined. We need help. Please. ANYTHING you can do will help so much. https://www.walmart.com/giftregistry/gr_detail.do?registry_id=86181342096
Thanks again for anything. Bless You

Four years ago our house was paid for. The only debt that we had was $13,000 for a camping trailer.

17 years ago I worked for a Fortune 500 company. I got sick at work due to chemicals and they fired me. My doctor said that I can only work from home. I can’t find a company that will allow me to do that. My husband had a good job as a union truck driver but the company closed his terminal so he also lost his job.

Before my husband lost his job the FMCSA made him get an exemption to drive. He was off from work for 9 months. Then he had to have 2 hips replaced and was off again for 3 months. During that time we had some major expenses like a new well and furnace. Two weeks after my husband lost his job our home was flooded and our insurance didn‘t cover anything. I also lost my car that was 11 years old. I now drive one that’s 15 years old and my husband drives one that’s 12 years old. My husband did get another job 3 weeks after he lost his but he makes 1/3 of what he did.

During the time that he was off from work and since he lost his good job we wanted to keep our bills paid and our credit good. We were forced to use our home equity loan. Now we are almost at the limit of $100,000. With the housing market falling our house is now worth about half of what it was. We owe way more than what it is worth. I’m am afraid that we are going to lose our house. This has caused marriage problems between my husband and I. I am depressed and anxious most of the time.

My prescriptions alone are $1260 a month. The year before last my husband made less than $28,000. This year he did make over $30,000. We make just enough that we are not in poverty. So, we do not qualify for any assistance. What kind of help is available for the poor working middle class that is trying to keep their bills paid?

They say when it rains it pours and at the moment I feel like i'm flooded with no emergency rainy day rescue package to help.
I'm a normal person with a normal life, I work hard but I don't seem to be having any luck at the moment.
So please just pay me a penny or cent, for my thoughts & cause. You see I've estimated that I need £30,000 or I guess $37,000 to pay my Mum and Dads mortgage ( I just cannot bear the thought of them losing their house They've worked hard their entire life), my sisters medical bill and my school fees. I have two jobs and I've sold everything of value I own. I just need an extra boost and thats where you come in.
I would greatly appreciate anything you can spare, a cent says a million words in my book. I was once you and you could be me one day. So please help me out this one time.

Hi.

Thanks for taking the time to read my request. I'm 30 years old, still in college and living with my parents. I've made a lot of great accomplishments in my life with far less support than most people who make it this far. Of course, with that said I've also made plenty of mistakes.

I grew up with a single parent, and another parent who visited annually just to stir up emotions and make my life miserable. When I was 18, I decided to work really hard to lose weight so that I could join the US Air Force. I had a strict plan that I was going to follow to succeed in life.

Unfortunately my superiors in the USAF would not accommodate that plan to independence as they forced me to find my own way from the barracks to work (a 40 mi drive), so I had to immediately struggle to get my drivers licence and I had to buy a car on an Airman's paygrade.

My income wasn't enough to afford the car and gas and other living needs that I was expected to pay, so eventually I had to leave the Air Force before my term was up (under honorable conditions). I tried to work as a civilian. The transfer was tough and I was vastly uninformed about what to do and what my options were. I'm the first first generation college student of my extended family.

After some petty jobs that would each take more than 10 years to be able to earn enough to live independently, I finally found a nice nighttime custodian job that was at least simple enough for that kind of pay. I was the night time custodian, but I was also a guy to have on call at this retirement home where I worked. If people's toilets flooded or a nearly deaf resident left their tv on past quiet hours (once I could hear one through 3 floors!) I was the guy to send up to fix it.

Having my first satisfying job as a civilian, I was able to investigate community college during the day, so eventually I enrolled and tried taking a few classes while working full-time. College was my saving grace. I never felt like I belonged anywhere until I first started to take college courses in math, science, and philosophy. I found the tutoring lounge on campus, made a lot of friends there, and I spent many hours cramming and helping those in need.

This soon led to me finding financial aid, making arrangements with my parents (my mom and my stepfather) to let me go to school full-time while I lived with them, and putting in my 2 weeks notice at work to focus exclusively on school.

My counselors advised that I pick where I want to transfer to and then figure out the details of how to get there after I got accepted. I think this was bad advice. While I ended up choosing to transfer to a university that had my desired major, Biophysics, it was 60 miles away from where my parents lived. My car that I had bought when I was in the Air Force also eventually broke down from not being able to afford maintenance while I worked, and was towed away for being in the public street for too long.

Finally, I got accepted to UC San Diego to work towards a degree in Physics with a specialty in Biophysics. When it came time to transfer, I got as involved as I could on how and when I was supposed to receive the financial aid so that I could go get an apartment and everything, and my school kept telling me, "you should get it tomorrow" until about 2 weeks into my first quarter when I finally got the support.

Despite this rocky start, I managed to get into a good shape for myself, making my way slowly but surely through school. Learning a great deal. Eventually when I felt the struggle was too difficult, I changed my major to Neuroscience before I began my upper division coursework.

So, as I settled into my schooling and struggled with maintaining financial independence on financial aid, I managed to get myself into maintaining a great aquarium hobby, owned two great little kittens from a street cat program, led as president of a student organization for one year, and eventually I got married. I also carefully learned about the stock market and managed to make some great gains with money that I had invested from financial aid savings.

In 2010, my gains were over 100%. That amounted to $2000 doubling itself, but still, that says a lot about me as a trader. However, 6 months into my marriage, she said she wanted out, grabbed the car that we both paid into (most of the money was mine from stocks; $5500 worth), and refused to pay her share of 2 months rent. That happened in December of the year of 2010.

2011 was a difficult year for me. I fought hard to maintain things, especially my head, but it was tough. I lost 45 lbs from exercising regularly, made lots of new friends, and I got some volunteer work experience in a Neuroscience lab. But I just couldn't focus well enough to maintain my finances and my grades, so I had to drop out and live back with my parents.

Despite how tough it's been, not finding work, struggling with the ins and outs of the VA, and just needing a professional therapist to talk to and help me keep my head straight but never being able to get one, I've managed to recuperate well enough and learn a lot more about this bottom floor of society that I've been so desperately trying to escape my whole life.

I've gone looking for opportunity in every direction. I've tried changing my career goals, collecting recyclables, writing online, trying any online scheme that didn't include me forking out money to get it, imagining what I could write as a novel, tried to make money through playing video games, making goal after goal after goal for myself, but still just not being able to get just the right amount of money to put me back on my feet.

I'll be going back to school in April at the risk of having to do it as a homeless person if the VA doesn't pull through for me. They recently approved my 10% service connected disability status and now I need to jump over a few more hurdles to get my more significant service connected disabilities recognized. I'm also seeing what the vocational rehab people can do for me despite the bureaucratic issues that are stopping them from helping me all the way.

BTW, this whole time that I've gone through life with common lower class difficulties, I've been disabled with a number of small conditions that all add up to a hard time. I have lower back issues that the military has yet to own up to. Community college found also that I have a learning disability which makes some intellectual tasks show up as lower than average ability for me while the rest of my intellect is high enough to expect that I could easily get a Masters Degree or a PhD. My biggest difficulty in school is that they don't give me enough time to show them what I know or what I'm capable of.

From working with special needs students as a tutor, I have proven to myself that there is a major problem in the education system. Most teachers never simplify the material into a clear picture of what they want to teach. If you want someone to learn something, the last thing you should be fuzzy on is what it is exactly that you want them to learn. We can't all work like intuitive Jedi or sophisticated parrots.

If you help me out, here is a list of the priorities of what your money will go towards, in order of their priority If you would like to request that I spend your donation on a specific cause, please let me know:

1. A working cheap economic vehicle.
I need something that I can sleep in and that will take me wherever I need to go. Preferably something that can stow quite a few recyclables as well to pay for gas, but not an SUV or truck or van (Unless that's all that is cheap of course. Not likely but you never know.).
I'll aim for great gas mileage, but I'm thinking that I should attend some police car auctions to see what the cheapest deal I can find is. This car would make a great shelter for me while I return to my far away school.

2. Investing on the stock market.
Trust me, I know how to fish. If you want to send me a request for proof I'd be glad to compose some evidence of my finest moments as well as my worst to show you that I can do well for myself on the stock market, even during the recession. What I could really use right now, is a little bait. Trading is good money for me, but to make enough to make gains worth more than the commission cost (about $10), you need about $300-1000 per investment. $300 is more for the high risk lottery plays on the market. I even made a blog about it if you would like to see:
http://www.squidoo.com/TheYoungidealistEconomyBlog
If you are willing, we can arrange something personal so that you wont need to worry about me putting the money you offer at high risk and blow it all. Might even be able to arrange something where I could make money for you to prove myself before accepting your donation. Whatever the case, I know we'd have to make it a personal arrangement to satisfy the current laws.

3. Working towards paying my debts to my friends.
My friends have been really supportive through these hard times, though they are starving students themselves. To keep up my morale they've bought me food, given me a place to crash when they could, and even paid to have me join them at fun local events. I have some money that I've promised them back, and I plan on making due on those promises as soon as possible.

4. Paying off my debts with companies.
I've had times where I couldn't afford to pay for rent and had to leave, like when my wife left me to live with her parents. These issues follow me on my credit score and I would like to work towards removing them so that I can turn my life around.

5. Getting a good start towards paying off my student loans.
I know I won't be able to pay them off before I find a good career with my degree. I would just like to have something to start making some automatic payments with and put that part of my bad credit score behind me as well.

6. Buying a home.
My mom never owned a home. No offense meant to land lords out there, but I really think the rental system is way out of line. My mom was always a hard worker. Way better than me, yet she could never own a home because she didn't have the money. Meanwhile, people with money could live in great big houses for less than she even had to pay.
I want a house to own. Probably start with a condo and seek ways to improve it and flip a profit out of it. Then I want to keep building up money from housing until I can manage to build an apartment building.
If I could, I'd like to make an apartment building near a university that offers cheap housing using the Japanese capsule model or something even more economic and more comfortable.

7. Making an online tutoring site meant to offer free tutoring and tutoring for tips. Imagine a site (I have yet to know of one) where people can collect their resources on a class, much like they collect info on ratemyprofessor.com, but also seek help from others who are taking the class or who have taken the class. Donors like you can offer money to tutors who post their notes and stories on the site, alongside ratings from other students that they helped.
Some tutors can offer their rates for help, sell their notes online for cheap, or just offer their help whenever they can and ask to be tipped through paypal if someone likes their work. My hope is that such a site could help to put an end to sophistry in the college system once and for all, making education easy and affordable for everyone.

8. After I have everything I'm hoping for above, the sky is the limit. But I would prefer to put the extra money that I don't need to good uses. I would spread a little philanthropy around, give to others in need on this site and through other resources.
I'd also look to teach others how to fish. I think a great way for the economy to be fixed would be if philanthropists made some really good employee owned companies. Make the place pay for itself, skim a little off the top, and walk away knowing that you really were a job creator.
I think that everyone who is capable of work and who chooses to work deserves to have their own independent living situation. I know that we are a long way from that, but I tend to be an optimist. I would like to try and make the world a better place, if nothing else.

Aside form financial help, I'm interested in anything else that I could get that's useful. Advice, Neuroscience Career connections, work, hobby or volunteer work that can easily become lucrative, I'm really all ears. Thanks again for taking the time to read my request. I hope you find it in you to help me out, even get to know me if you'd like. Bet you $5000 I can make you laugh. Did I win? >;) it was worth a try anyway.

My friends are getting married in Hawai'i this summer. I wasn't planning on going, but then my house was flooded in September and I lost everything. Not only did they rescue me from the powerless, waterless hotel I was stuck in for two days, they helped with the cleaning out and gutting of the house, let me live with them until my house was livable, not only put up with but embraced my needy dog, and unofficially adopted me as a member of his family (soon to be hers as well!)

As they refused to take any payment from me, or any other form of thank you other than words, I feel that attending their wedding in July is my way of showing gratitude, by supporting them as they combine their worlds as one legally. Airfare will be the worst of the expenses, they have rented a house for guests and so this has lowered the hotel cost, and 3 friends and I will be sharing the cost of a rental car. Please help me make the 10 hour long flight a little easier to bear!

We are trying to sell our house. We live in a flood plain and have flooded twice. The market of course sucks. We owe about 94K on our houre, but currently have it listed at 91,500. If we get that amount we're still going to need about 9K at closing. Taxes are coming back and we only have about 4K. We seriously need to get out of this house. Please help! I'm tired of being scared everytime there is a big rain storm. I can't go through another flood. Anything would be greatly appreciated!

Hi,

I used to lived in Bangkok and I got good friends there. I would like to beg for help because of their situation. They are flooded and worse is to come. Houses are underwater. The money I beg is going to some friends there for them to survive from the calamity. I know that many people still have a good heart. Also, ten dollars is not so much to spare to save someone and provide them help.
You can donate thru this account: Lalaine de Guzman Bank account:CHina construction Bank:6227-6030-9042-0185-788. or western union it to me. God bless good hearted people like you.

My name is Missy. I am a 49 year old struggling grandmother of 3 sweet, beautiful boys, ages 5, 7 and 8. I am trying desperately to save and protect my grandsons and ensure their futures. I would not ask help if it were only for me. I am asking for help for them, so that my 3 innocent little grandsons will be safe, secure and have a chance in life. As things stand right now, we will be homeless within the next 2 weeks.
My greatest fear is that when (not if) I do become homeless, which isn’t that far off, the state will take my grandsons because we have no place to live, split them up and put them in foster homes. That thought scares the hell out of me. I am all those sweet little boys have. And if they lose each other too, after losing everyone and everything else that they known and loved, I fear their lives will be ruined at the tender ages of 5, 7 and 8.
I suffer from PTSD, COPD and fibromyalgia and each day I struggle with mental distress and physical pain. We live near the New Orleans Metro Area in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. We were displaced for a year after Hurricane Katrina, came back, bought a mobile home in Lafitte, Louisiana and tried to rebuild our lives. In 2008, when Hurricanes Gustav and Ike hit us back to back, our home was flooded with more than 4 feet of water; unreachable, except by boat for over 2 weeks.
At that time, my mother, age 75, had been experiencing the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s as well as a series of strokes which affected the memory and impulse control centers of her brain due to a vascular disease which severely decreased the flow of blood to those areas of her brain. During these TIA’s and small strokes/seizures, she behaved erratically and during larger ones she could become paranoid and psychotic. She had to be hospitalized for several of the more severe episodes, as she was becoming a danger to herself and others. The effects of these episodes lingered for days, sometimes weeks. Afterwards, she had no memory of anything that happened during that time period.
After the storms, we moved in with my mother to help her and because we did, FEMA stopped helping us. And since we could not afford to rebuild again without FEMA’s help, we lost our home. The recent BP oil spill was just another deep blow to our already struggling local economy.
Mom required 24/7/365 assistance and supervision, which she could not afford. She was eventually diagnosed with vascular disease of the brain and Alzheimer’s. Due to the region of her brain that was affected her disease went unnoticed for several years, until she had a large enough stroke to prompt her to seek medical attention. This diagnosis explained her erratic behavior of the past several years, I have since been homebound, unable to leave mom untended for any length of time and unable to work outside the home due to my mother’s need for the past 3 years.
My mother passed away this past April at the age of 79. She had suffered from Alzheimer's and vascular dementia, suffering several major and minor strokes and seizures over the past 6+ years. On April 9th she suffered a massive stroke, lingering for 9 days before passing on the 18th. God rest her soul, I miss her. I loved my mom very much and did everything I could to help her.
To add to the difficulties already faced by our loss, my youngest daughter, who had been living in Ohio with what turned out to be a conman/ junkie twice her age that saw a vulnerable young woman with 3 children and took advantage of that fact, had been physically, verbally and emotionally abusive to all of them for the past 1½ years. 2 weeks before Mom passed, she got in major legal trouble in Ohio and sent my 3 young grandsons to me to raise.
Now, things have turned for the worst... On August 17th we discovered that my eldest daughter took my mother to an attorney and had her write a will leaving everything my mother had to her and excluding me! This abominable act was done 1 month after Hurricane Katrina when ALL of us were distraught and displaced from the storm! My mom was not in her right mind at that time, even though a full diagnosis had not yet been made on her true condition.... Also, in Louisiana, the bar for mental competency is set so low that so long as you are not actively drooling and babbling in front of the judge/attorney/witnesses you are considered competent!! It doesn’t matter if you won’t remember doing it five minutes later either. My mother, in her right mind, would NEVER have disinherited me.
Now, my greedy, self-serving, ungrateful eldest child decided that she will evict us so she can try to sell my mother's home, in which I and my grandsons, her nephews still live, so she can pay off mom's debt, which she exaggerates, and her student loans. She is fully aware of our circumstances, she just doesn’t care. The only transportation I have for my grandsons is the truck my mom gave me before her death, but did not have the money to transfer title on. It is now part of mom’s estate and she took that too.
I called the Clerk in division where probate/ succession on my mom were filed... Clerk said that I need an attorney to file contest to the will, herein lies the problem... there is not 1 single legal aid agency in the ENTIRE New Orleans Metro area that can handle a contested will!! There are also no private attorneys that will handle it either, unless there's big money in it for them, which in this case there is not.
Clerk also said she has no idea why I was never notified. Judge signed off regardless. There seems to be no justice for the poor in this country... since we can't afford to pay the exorbitant fees of a private attorney, which seems to be a necessity to get anything done in the courts. I have tried appealing to my daughter’s sense of decency, but she doesn’t seem to have one. Her actions are despicable and deplorable. I am ashamed to be her mother. It breaks my heart and sickens me to know that I brought such a hateful, selfish, greedy, heartless person into this world. I did not raise her to be that way.
I've called every single legal aid agency in my area; including the Bar Assoc. Lawyer referral service... no one will help because there just isn't any money in it for them... sad state this country is in when the poor cannot get justice anywhere.
We were told by the eviction court judge on Sept 12th, that we have 24 hours to vacate our home... stating that our situation is a matter for probate court. Thankfully, we found a place, however, we still need about $800.00 more to pay the $420.00 we still owe our new landlord to avoid eviction from this new place by the 5th of October plus $365.00 to the light company which will be past due (cut off)on the 7th and includes a new deposit and transfer fee.

I've also called churches and other charitable organizations for help... there are so many families in need in the New Orleans metro area that any help is minimal. ALL homeless shelters are full up with waiting lists so long they are no longer taking applications for assistance.
I have applied for Section 8 housing, but there is a HUGE waiting list. The HUD Section 8 waiting list in Louisiana is backlogged 5+ years and has more than 20,000 applicants still waiting for vouchers, many of whom are currently homeless. They are not accepting any new applicants.
I have contacted EVERY charitable and public/community service agency that I can think of for help... none has been forthcoming as of yet..... Is there ANYONE out there with a heart who can and will help us? I have nowhere else to turn.
I’ve spent days seeking legal help... bottom line... none available... so since if my defense is denied and I can't fight the eviction then we are out on the streets with nowhere to go.
My nerves are shot; the house hunt is not going well.
I am hurt by my daughter’s actions and so sickened over all of this mess that I can barely think straight. I cry myself to sleep every night and awake with tears in my eyes and a rock in the pit of my stomach. Yet I dry them and try to be strong and act as if everything is normal for my grandsons who need me now more than ever. I still haven’t had time to grieve my mother’s death.
We are now faced with trying to find alternate housing that we can afford on the $840.00 a month income that I receive in Kinship Care for my grandsons. Fat chance in this over-priced rental market. Even a 1 bedroom apartment in Crack Alley goes for more than my income in this post-Katrina/Gustav/Ike market.
And it's starting to look like me and my grandsons will be homeless very soon... by the end of the 1st week in October.
Their mother is in prison and their deadbeat, psycho father hasn't been seen in almost 2 years, ever since he beat the hell out of his girlfriend, killed their little dog in front of my boys, stole and trashed her car and ended up in a mental hospital wanting to kill himself... my babies have had enough grief and loss in their lives... they need love, help and compassion.... and a decent place to live... soon!
We’re trying to stay in this area because my boyfriend of 11 years, and my only help, has an elderly, widowed mother who needs his help too. And we are all she has. She cannot take us in because her trailer is very small and there is no room for 5 more people in it.
Work is also scarce and hard to find in the New Orleans metro area due to the huge influx of big out of state companies with their out of state workers getting all of the bigger jobs and contracts and the even larger influx of foreign laborers so severely underbidding the smaller construction jobs, cutting local workers and sub-contractors, like my boyfriend, right out of the job market. Every day he goes out hunting for work taking any job offered.
I have prayed on this so hard and so often since this mess all began. I have put my burden in Jesus' Hands. For He is the only one that can save us. I can only hope that he sends us Angels to deliver us soon, for without help from someone, somewhere here on earth we are lost. I feel so lost and utterly alone... this truly is my darkest hour.
If there is ANYONE out there who can offer assistance, legal, residential, financial, whatever help you can give... please contact me ASAP. I have exhausted all available resources.
Right now, I can barely afford toilet paper to wipe our butts with.
We are thankful and grateful for the help we have received from 5 of my 267 facebook friends, our local churches and the 2nd Harvest Food Bank, as well as some assistance on our utility bill from our local community action organization. That meager help has helped us survive thus far, but our resources are nearly spent. Please have mercy on us and donate whatever you can to help me save my family. If enough people with a heart and some compassion give up just 1 cup of Latte from Starbucks and donate to help save us, we will be able to make it… small donations add up and every little bit helps.
Thank you for listening to my problems and for your consideration of my plight.
May God Bless you tenfold for any help you send us.
Proverbs 3: 3-7
Let not mercy and truth forsakes you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart,
And so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

Updates: September 11, 2011 - I have been able to get a part-time job which is good news, but the rest is just about the same. Thank you for your help Malum Designs
and Pete B.
Since my previous posts have yielded only four donations over the last five months I thought I would try this approach. My financial problems are quite real. If you find my fable entertaining please send a small donation.
- Fortuna vitrea est, tum cum splendet frangitur -

The Grasshopper and the Ant
A Classic retold by Joseph the Beggar King
Part One

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, there were two friends, the Grasshopper and the Ant. Why these two became friends is a bit of a mystery. The Grasshopper was a dreamer and a drifter. The Ant was a believer and an achiever.

In school the Grasshopper would look out the window without thought and only learned the subjects he found interesting. Sometimes he would fall asleep in Math class, other times when a angry teacher would jump him with a pop question he would give the correct answer in way that would confound them.

The Ant was a teachers dream, he soaked up every subject the system taught him, gave the correct answers in the correct way and got straight A s. He would delight his Math teacher by doing compound interest in his head. The Ant believed that what they taught him would help him succeed and was very completive. After graduating High School the Ant got an Academic Scholarship and the Grasshopper got a Pell Grant.

Within four years the Ant got two BS degrees in Business Management and Engineering. The Grasshopper dropped out after the first year. He went to live with the Rainbow Tribe for a few years. On the way to the bus station he found an old fiddle in a trash pile along the road and when he got station he was able to panhandle his bus fare. That was the Grasshoppers first beg.

The Ant took the College like a fish to water. During open Rush some Greeks invite him to be a brother in their Fraternity. He earned his dues by being the Frat Houses Accountant and made beer money by writing term papers. One day while visiting the Tri Deltas he watches the girls play volleyball and is amazed that even though they are playing a vigorous game not one of them breaks a sweat. It is there he meets the girl of his dreams, Polly Fishbane.

While the Grasshopper was living with the Rainbow Tribe he never meets the girl of his dreams, but it does not really matter too much because they believe in Free Love. So free, in fact, that after what you might call the Honeymoon he found himself getting a little bored with it. From the Rainbow Tribe he learns to live off the fat of country and from his new friend, Buffalo with Runs, he learns to live off the land. Buffalo with Runs was an very old Indian that was adopted by the tribe. He taught the Grasshopper what wild plants were safe to eat or use for medicines. He showed him how to set traps and hunt small game. Then, during one winter Gathering four people froze to dead because they were too stoned to come in out of the cold. The Grasshopper became very sad and hopped away.

The Ant is recruited by a Aerospace firm even before he graduated college and goes to work on the Apollo Program. He and his new wife Polly loved the Florida sunshine and settle down to start the American Dream. They decide to have two and half children. Even though the third kid looked a bit odd the Ant loved him as only a father can. With easy money down and mortgage tax deductions compliments of Uncle Sam, they get a house with a two car garage. Next they get two cars and the Rat Race is on. The Ant loves it! Working on the Apollo Program is more than a job, it is being part of history. Polly loves it! Raising their kids and Keeping up of with the Jones. She starts selling Avon products on the side. The Ant buys the best bass boat in the neighborhood, but only uses it once a year because he too busy working. He sets up his retirement funds and a small stock portfolio. Life is Good!

After leaving the Rainbow Tribe the Grasshopper panhandles his way across the country. He sets up in parks and subways where he pretends to play his fiddle while selling jewelry made of deer anthers and beads. The noise he makes with his fiddle sounds like a cat being killed and people give him money just to make him stop. Before the Cops run him off, the Grasshopper usually made enough in one day of begging to cover his needs for the week. When he is hungry he goes to a Soup Kitchen and when he needs clothing there are the Sharing Centers. Every now and then he lets some good hearted woman try to save him. Life is Good and he hops away.

The Apollo Program ends and the new Shuttle program does not start for a couple of years. The Aerospace company were the Ant works at does not win any of the new bids. They offer him a job in California at 20% less of his salary. Polly and the kids are in a rage. Nobody wants to move and leave their friends. The Ant sells his house at a loss because the real estate market in flooded by the laid offs. The one car and the boat are reprocessed. He sells off his stock portfolio for the down payment on the new house in California and even though money is tight the Ant decides to take the family on a short vacation to Key West to uplift their spirits. He finds the Grasshopper selling deer antler jewelry at the Front Street Market. While Polly and the kids go shopping, he and Grasshopper catch up and have a couple of beers. The Ant tells his friend about the laid offs and the move. The Grasshopper asks him - Are you Happy - ? The Ant says - Yes -. His friend says, - Good - . They watch the sunset and see a green flash on the horizon.
To be continue.

I am a 49 year old struggling grandmother of 3 sweet, beautiful boys, ages 5, 7 and 8. I am desperately trying to save and protect my grandsons and ensure their futures. I would not ask help if it were only for me. I am asking for help for them, so that my 3 innocent little grandsons will be safe, secure and have a chance in life. As things stand right now, we will be homeless within the next 2 weeks.
My greatest fear is that when (not if) I do become homeless, which isn’t that far off, the state will take my grandsons because we have no place to live, split them up and put them in foster homes. That thought scares the hell out of me. I am all those sweet little boys have. And if they lose each other too, after losing everyone and everything else that they known and loved, I fear their lives will be ruined at the tender ages of 5, 7 and 8.
I suffer from COPD and fibromyalgia and each day I struggle with physical pain. We live near the New Orleans Metro Area in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. We were displaced for a year after Hurricane Katrina, came back, bought a mobile home in Lafitte, Louisiana and tried to rebuild our lives. In 2008, when Hurricanes Gustav and Ike hit us back to back, our home was flooded with more than 4 feet of water; unreachable, except by boat for over 2 weeks.
At that time, my mother, age 75, had been experiencing the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s as well as a series of strokes which affected the memory and impulse control centers of her brain due to a vascular disease which severely decreased the flow of blood to those areas of her brain. During these TIA’s and small strokes/seizures, she behaved erratically and during larger ones she could become paranoid and psychotic. She had to be hospitalized for several of the more severe episodes, as she was becoming a danger to herself and others. The effects of these “episodes” lingered for days, sometimes weeks. Afterwards, she had no memory of anything that happened during that time period.
After the storms, we moved in with my mother to help her and because we did, FEMA stopped helping us. And since we could not afford to rebuild again without FEMA’s help, we lost our home. The recent BP oil spill was just another deep blow to our already struggling local economy.
She required 24/7/365 assistance and supervision, which she could not afford. She was eventually diagnosed with vascular disease of the brain and Alzheimer’s. Due to the region of her brain that was affected her disease went unnoticed for several years, until she had a large enough stroke to prompt her to seek medical attention. This diagnosis explained her erratic behavior of the past several years, I have since been homebound, unable to leave mom untended for any length of time and unable to work outside the home due to my mother’s need for the past 3 years.
My mother passed away this past April at the age of 79. She had suffered from Alzheimer's and vascular dementia, suffering several major and minor strokes and seizures over the past 6+ years. On April 9th she suffered a massive stroke, lingering for 9 days before passing on the 18th. God rest her soul, I miss her. I loved my mom very much and did everything I could to help her.
To add to the difficulties already faced by our loss, my youngest daughter, who had been living in Ohio with what turned out to be a conman/ junkie twice her age that saw a vulnerable young woman with 3 children and took advantage of that fact, had been physically, verbally and emotionally abusive to all of them for the past 1 ½ years. 2 weeks before Mom passed, she got in major legal trouble in Ohio and sent my 3 young grandsons to me to raise.
Now, things have turned for the worst... On August 17th we discovered that my eldest daughter took my mother to an attorney and had her write a will leaving everything my mother had to her and excluding me! This abominable act was done 1 month after Hurricane Katrina when ALL of us were distraught and displaced from the storm! My mom was not in her right mind at that time, even though a full diagnosis had not yet been made on her true condition.... Also, in Louisiana, the bar for mental competency is set so low that so long as you are not actively drooling and babbling in front of the judge/attorney/witnesses you are considered competent!! It doesn’t matter if you won’t remember doing it five minutes later either.
Now, my greedy, self-serving, ungrateful eldest child has decided that she will evict us so she can try to sell my mother's home, in which I and my grandsons, her nephews still live, so she can pay off mom's debt, which she exaggerates, and her student loans. She is fully aware of our circumstances… she just doesn’t care. The only transportation I have for my grandsons is the truck my mom gave me before her death, but did not have the money to transfer title on. It is now part of mom’s estate and she wants that too.
I called the Clerk in division where probate/ succession on my mom were filed... Clerk said that I need an attorney to file contest to the will… herein lies the problem... there is not 1 single legal aid agency in the ENTIRE New Orleans Metro area that can handle a contested will!! There are also no private attorneys that will handle it either, unless there's big money in it for them, which in this case there is not.
Clerk also said she has no idea why I was never notified… Judge signed off regardless. There seems to be no justice for the poor in this country... since we can't afford to pay the exorbitant fees of a private attorney, which seems to be a necessity to get anything done in the courts.
I received a 10 day "Notice to Vacate" posted on the door August 24, 2011. My daughter wants immediate possession of the property she manipulated/unduly influenced my mentally ill mother into willing to her barely 1 month after Hurricane Katrina. I don't know where we will go. I will have enough money on September 3rd to pay either 1 month's rent or the deposit, but can't raise both in time I have left. I also have the added expenses of my regular utility bills and new expenses for the transfer of utility services and/or deposits, and transportation. So I need to raise about $2000.00 within the coming 2 week period.
I have tried appealing to my daughter’s sense of decency, but she doesn’t seem to have one. Her actions are despicable and deplorable. I am ashamed to be her mother. It breaks my heart and sickens me to know that I brought such a hateful, selfish, greedy, heartless person into this world. I did not raise her to be that way.
I've called every single legal aid agency in my area; including the Bar Assoc. Lawyer referral service... no one will help because there just isn't any money in it for them... sad state this country is in when the poor cannot get justice anywhere.
I've also called churches and other charitable organizations for help... there are so many families in need in the New Orleans metro area that any help is minimal. ALL homeless shelters are full up with waiting lists so long they are no longer taking applications for assistance.
I have applied for Section 8 housing, but there is a HUGE waiting list. The HUD Section 8 waiting list in Louisiana is backlogged 5+ years and has more than 20,000 applicants still waiting for vouchers, many of whom are currently homeless. They are not accepting any new applicants.
I have contacted EVERY charitable and public/community service agency that I can think of for help... none has been forthcoming as of yet..... Is there ANYONE out there with a heart who can and will help us? I have nowhere else to turn.
I’ve spent days seeking legal help... bottom line... none available... so since if my defense is denied and I can't fight the eviction then we are out on the streets with nowhere to go.
My nerves are shot; the house hunt is not going well.
I am hurt by my daughter’s actions and so sickened over all of this mess that I can barely think straight. I cry myself to sleep every night and awake with tears in my eyes and a rock in the pit of my stomach. Yet I dry them and try to be strong and act as if everything is normal for my grandsons who need me now more than ever. I still haven’t had time to grieve my mother’s death.
We are now faced with trying to find alternate housing that we can afford on the $840.00 a month income that I receive in Kinship Care for my grandsons. Fat chance in this over-priced rental market. Even a 1 bedroom apartment in “Crack Alley” goes for more than my income in this post-Katrina/Gustav/Ike market.
And it's starting to look like me and my grandsons will be homeless very soon... by the end of the 1st week in September.
Their mother is in prison and their deadbeat, psycho father hasn't been seen in almost 2 years, ever since he beat the hell out of his girlfriend, killed their little dog in front of my boys, stole and trashed her car and ended up in a mental hospital wanting to kill himself... my babies have had enough grief and loss in their lives... they need love, help and compassion.... and a decent place to live... soon!
We’re trying to stay in this area because my boyfriend of 11 years, and my only help, has an elderly, widowed mother who needs his help too. And we are all she has. She cannot take us in because her trailer is very small and there is no room for 5 more people in it.
Work is also scarce and hard to find in the New Orleans metro area due to the huge influx of big out of state companies with their out of state workers getting all of the bigger jobs and contracts and the even larger influx of foreign laborers so severely underbidding the smaller construction jobs, cutting local workers and sub-contractors, like my boyfriend, right out of the job market. Every day he goes out hunting for work taking any job offered.
I have prayed on this so hard and so often since this mess all began. I have put my burden in Jesus' Hands. For He is the only one that can save us. I can only hope that he sends us an Angel to deliver us soon, for without help from someone, somewhere here on earth we are lost. I feel so lost and utterly alone... this truly is my darkest hour.
If there is ANYONE out there who can offer assistance, legal, residential, financial, whatever help you can give... please contact me ASAP. I have exhausted all available resources.
I need at least 2 bedrooms in a safe neighborhood... my total income is $840.00 per month... Right now, I can barely afford toilet paper to wipe our butts with.
We are thankful and grateful for the help we have received from our local churches and the 2nd Harvest Food Bank, as well as some assistance on our utility bill from our local community action organization. That meager help has helped us survive thus far, but our resources are nearly spent. Please have mercy on us and donate whatever you can to help me save my family… every little bit helps.
Thank you for listening to my problems and for your consideration of my plight.
May God Bless you tenfold for any help you send us.
Proverbs 3: 3-7
Let not mercy and truth forsakes you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart,
And so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

I don't like begging like this. I'm sooo embarrassed. We moved to a great new apartment 3 months ago. My husband has been without work for 2 years, well actually in and out of work. I have stayed by his side the whole time. We have 1 son named israel. He is 6. I had two jobs and was able to move my family out of the "hood". A neighbor got shot. We got a nice place then I lost a job. Everything went downhill. Our car is about to go out, its a dodge neon. I had saved enough to get us one, little did I know they sold us a flooded car. Should have known c,ause it was right after the hurricane. I got loans to help but now I'm trying to pay those. Which got me behind on rent. I can't give up. I need help rent is due on the 3rd. Please if anyone is reading can you spare anything? I'm sorry to beg. I'm holding my head up high. School starts soon and I don't want my son to miss a good school. If we don't pay rent we get evicted and have to move in a hotel which we would be considered homeless and I don't know if he can still go to the good school. Please anyone? Anne

I am going to be completely honest with you. I am a very talented individual who, through the force of circumstances, has not been able to get out of a rut. I am educated, have years of work experience, have a lovely wife and beautiful son. I am very fortunate in many aspects of my life, except money. It stems from our house flooding back in 2008. Our basement (which is also my wife's place of business) flooded due to an extreme winter storm. Our sump pump failed to engage when waters began to collect behind our house. The resulting damage totaled close to $20,000.00. Even though our area was considered a disaster area the US government declined my request for a disaster grant, twice. We had to finance everything with credit cards. And that put us right in the hole.

Ever since we have had to use credit to get by. We have mounting credit card debt closing in on the 40K to 50K range (I don't want to add it all up as I don't want to see the actual number). I am considering one of those debt resolution companies or bankruptcy. But both have major drawbacks. I have been searching for a better paying job in the accounting industry but competition is stiff and employers' requirements are high and the amount of jobs is low.

I am certain that if we could get rid of this debt we would be put back on our feet and ready to excel. I just need one "do over" without any harsh consequences and then I feel I will be able to go GREAT things. Thank you for listening.

NJ

I am embarrassed to ask this but i truly need help. I am a good person, work hard (i am a nurse), and raising 3 children. One of which just turned 18 and i am trying to get her prepared for college. I just need help getting over this hump. Once i do that, i will be able to manage my budget much better and will be able to pay a pretty good payment per month back. My boys started school yesterday and i was embarrassed because i couldn't send all of the supplys the school asked for and i plan on having a yard sale tomorrow to pay for lunch money and a few groceries to last until the 17th..i do get paid tomorrow but i have to pay rent, several bills, for childcare, and i need to pay my lawyer asap $900. I owe my father $500 for a broken sump pump that flooded my basement. I never ask for money from my parents and am totally embarrassed that i haven't paid him back yet. I would like to get my bills caught up and stop late fees that keep mounting. once i am over this hump i will have bring home income of almost $3000/ month so i will be able to pay back. right now i just can't get ahead with things like this. don't get me wrong..i have had 3 jobs before to make ends meet..but i end up sick and my kids become a discipline problem because i am not home. so i never seem to be able to win. I used to be someone who paid my bills a month ahead...now it is horrible and i hate it..i am desperate for someone to help me. i have bad credit (obviously). i have filed bankruptcy in the past (chapter 13) and i am still making $1400 payments a month on that those payments will stop soon. i know this sounds like i am a total loser...but if you knew me..you would know that i am a good hearted person and would never get myself into this mess on purpose. I truly truly need someone to believe in me and help me and my children out..you won't be sorry. i promise. thanks Any serious offers are appreciated....thank you

Hi everyone!

I'm 20 years old and just lost my job. My house flooded and I got evicted (5 days)!!
I moved and now I am struggling to pay these loans I have out.
My car broke down, so now I am jobless and carless! Please help!
Anything is greatly appreciated! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

I want to go back Home to New Orleans with a passion that is unspeakable, and no means. I moved to Seattle two years ago, and while it is a beautiful place, nothing has worked out for me here. My car died, the only work I could find laid me off, and friends were hard to find. With medical problems I wound up on state assistance that doesn't meet the rent on a tiny one room studio apartment. Last week, there was a plumbing problem in the building and my apartment flooded with sewage. I got very sick, and the place is now unsafe for me and my cats. I desperately need to come up with funds to get a cheap car or uhal, and get another place, back where my heart is. If you can do a random act of kindness, help a girl get home to New Orleans, the most wonderful place in the world.

Nicolette
paypal= sassynolagal@yahoo.com