Obstacles Tags

Since today is Mother’s Day, I wanted to share my journey thus far and what it’s meant to be a mother for me. My story is unique in that I’ve overcome various obstacles to gain what some may call normalcy. Now I’m facing a struggle in which I’m hoping to tap into the kindness of the internet in order to help me through this hurdle.

I was raised by a single parent and grew up in a town where most families were on some sort of government assistance and could barely make ends meet. I was always taught to value what I had and that hard work will always bear its fruits. My high school was filled with kids who didn’t care about getting an education. I was a introverted “nerd” who took Honors and AP classes and saw education as a way to get out of a town that didn’t have much opportunity for growth. While I valued my education, I was also bored to death, even in my “accelerated classes,” so I stupidly acted out and started to party as high school kids do. I ditched class to drink and dabbled a bit in drugs because there was nothing else to do. Even as I partied, I still managed to remain on the honor roll for all 4 years. Fast forward to the beginning of my senior year, our class had 250 kids and throughout the year approximately half of the student body dropped out at one point or another, giving up on their 14 year investment in their education. I made it to the end, but while everyone was excitedly responding to college acceptance letters, I had to throw all of mine out. Why? I was pregnant. I fully accept responsibility for my actions, but sex was not talked about in my household. I had no idea I had access to birth control or condoms and foolishly made a mistake that would change my life. I went to my prom and graduation 3 months pregnant without anyone knowing aside from my family.

The summer after graduation was spent brainstorming options and finding a job to help support my unborn child. I decided to keep the baby, thinking I would give it up for adoption. I was too immature to take care of myself, and now a baby? No way. As the months progressed, I fell in love with the baby and decided to keep her and raise her with the help of my family. I was excited but deep inside I was depressed. I really wanted to go off to college and live the life of a student living on campus, making new friends, staying up late to cram for midterms and possibly travel a bit. I couldn’t do that anymore and the thought of experiencing college in any other way didn’t entice me. I also knew if I didn’t get an education, I’d be stuck in a cycle of dead end jobs all my life. I knew I didn’t want to struggle like I’ve seen my family fight just to put a decent meal on the table and keep the lights from getting shut down.

I started college two months after my daughter was born. She was perfection and an incredible motivator. I’ve always thought that she deserves something better, beyond what I can give her but I decided to try my best to give her an amazing life. Since I just had a baby, I wanted to explore the opportunities I had outside of a traditional classroom in college. Luckily, the local community college offered online courses which only required me to be in class on the first day, at midterms and during finals week. I did this for a year and a half until I took every online course possible. Then it was time for full immersion into college. Here came daycare and having to balance college life with working and a small child.

My average day in college looked like this: we’d have to wake up at the crack of dawn so my daughter and I could ride a 45-minute bus to school. Unlike most of my classmates, I had to dash straight from work to class or go to work right after class so that I could pick up my daughter from school at a proper hour. I was very fortunate to land a job in a small office as an office assistant during college that would later prove invaluable. The pay was ok, but I was allowed to tailor my schedule to be compatible with my changing class load every semester. After our day was done came another bus ride. Once we got home, I’d have to make dinner, pack us lunch for the next day, prepare her backpack with extra clothes plus wash and prepare a day’s worth of bottles for my daughter. After I put my daughter to bed was the only time I had for homework. I’d stay up until about 2am every night doing my reading assignments or writing papers only to have to get up 3 ½ hours later to start my day again.

I did this every day for 5 ½ years.

Was it worth it? Heck yeah. I got my bachelor’s degree on my wall as proof. I am the first person in my family to ever get a degree. I have multiple relatives my age who ended up dropping out for various reasons yet I managed to graduate (with honors!) while juggling a small child and a demanding job. Aside from raising my daughter, this is what I’m most proud of thus far. I read online that less than 2% of teen moms attain a college degree before age 30. I’m stoked beyond words to be a part of that 2% (Source) I hope that this struggle and success will set an example to my daughter and show her that hard work does pay off.

After college, I worked a few jobs that I wasn’t too keen on. Too corporate, too stuffy, too bureaucratic to evoke any change and make an impact. I wanted to wake up every morning and feel inspired to go to work. I didn’t just want a paycheck, I wanted to engulf myself within organization so that I could kick ass and take names. I also wanted a 401(k), health benefits and life insurance so that my bases could be covered in old age. But mainly I wanted to wake up invigorated every morning and be able to pay my bills. After college, my daughter and I moved into our first home. I loved waking her up in her room filled with the girliest of things. I was a proud mama–on my own, college educated and living life as an independent woman.

Independent but unfulfilled. That is, until I was introduced to the CEO of my most recent employer. We hit it off immediately and within two week was offered the chance of a lifetime. I was invited to join his multimillion dollar company and close-knit team as his right hand. I’d learn all the in’s and out’s of running a business in a dynamic industry and receive a nice salary. After a bit of contemplation, I decided to resign from my stuffy job to join a company I was proud to be apart of. My job was great. It was flexible, nurturing, educational and insightful. In a few short weeks, I was in the trenches with my boss handling everything from sales to contracts to finance to HR. That is, until the company suddenly went out of business. I won’t get into the details but I was told I’d have a month before we were all let go. This was the job I wanted to settle in and dedicate years to, not just a job really but a mission to which I was dedicated.

I was laid off in March with no severance pay as the company had nothing. I had a small savings which I tapped into as I began searching for a job. I had to file for unemployment for the first time, which was hard as I’ve prided myself on not having to use government resources to pay my bills. I have almost a decade of solid work history and yet I’m struggling to find a job. Places are hiring but they’re scarce and don’t always offer pay that can support a family.

My bills are piling up and I have family and friends that are in no position to help me out. Unemployment can only pay so much and it isn’t enough to put a home-cooked meal on the table or keep everything paid. I’m in the process of starting up two businesses–one that peddles vintage finds and another that provides folks with stellar resumes to land their dream job so that I can increase my cash flow, but in the meantime, I’m asking for any donations to my cause. I’m willing to offer any services in return for a donation over $30 via paypal. There’s a button below where your transaction will be processed safely and gratefully!

Please pass this on and +1 it, favorite it, retweet it and share in any way possible! No action is too small or unappreciated.

Thank you so much for letting me share my story with you.

Since today is Mother’s Day, I wanted to share my journey thus far and what it’s meant to be a mother for me. My story is unique in that I’ve overcome various obstacles to gain what some may call normalcy. Now I’m facing a struggle in which I’m hoping to tap into the kindness of the internet in order to help me through this hurdle.

I was raised by a single parent and grew up in a town where most families were on some sort of government assistance and could barely make ends meet. I was always taught to value what I had and that hard work will always bear its fruits. My high school was filled with kids who didn’t care about getting an education. I was a introverted “nerd” who took Honors and AP classes and saw education as a way to get out of a town that didn’t have much opportunity for growth. While I valued my education, I was also bored to death, even in my “accelerated classes,” so I stupidly acted out and started to party as high school kids do. I ditched class to drink and dabbled a bit in drugs because there was nothing else to do. Even as I partied, I still managed to remain on the honor roll for all 4 years. Fast forward to the beginning of my senior year, our class had 250 kids and throughout the year approximately half of the student body dropped out at one point or another, giving up on their 14 year investment in their education. I made it to the end, but while everyone was excitedly responding to college acceptance letters, I had to throw all of mine out. Why? I was pregnant. I fully accept responsibility for my actions, but sex was not talked about in my household. I had no idea I had access to birth control or condoms and foolishly made a mistake that would change my life. I went to my prom and graduation 3 months pregnant without anyone knowing aside from my family.

The summer after graduation was spent brainstorming options and finding a job to help support my unborn child. I decided to keep the baby, thinking I would give it up for adoption. I was too immature to take care of myself, and now a baby? No way. As the months progressed, I fell in love with the baby and decided to keep her and raise her with the help of my family. I was excited but deep inside I was depressed. I really wanted to go off to college and live the life of a student living on campus, making new friends, staying up late to cram for midterms and possibly travel a bit. I couldn’t do that anymore and the thought of experiencing college in any other way didn’t entice me. I also knew if I didn’t get an education, I’d be stuck in a cycle of dead end jobs all my life. I knew I didn’t want to struggle like I’ve seen my family fight just to put a decent meal on the table and keep the lights from getting shut down.

I started college two months after my daughter was born. She was perfection and an incredible motivator. I’ve always thought that she deserves something better, beyond what I can give her but I decided to try my best to give her an amazing life. Since I just had a baby, I wanted to explore the opportunities I had outside of a traditional classroom in college. Luckily, the local community college offered online courses which only required me to be in class on the first day, at midterms and during finals week. I did this for a year and a half until I took every online course possible. Then it was time for full immersion into college. Here came daycare and having to balance college life with working and a small child.

My average day in college looked like this: we’d have to wake up at the crack of dawn so my daughter and I could ride a 45-minute bus to school. Unlike most of my classmates, I had to dash straight from work to class or go to work right after class so that I could pick up my daughter from school at a proper hour. I was very fortunate to land a job in a small office as an office assistant during college that would later prove invaluable. The pay was ok, but I was allowed to tailor my schedule to be compatible with my changing class load every semester. After our day was done came another bus ride. Once we got home, I’d have to make dinner, pack us lunch for the next day, prepare her backpack with extra clothes plus wash and prepare a day’s worth of bottles for my daughter. After I put my daughter to bed was the only time I had for homework. I’d stay up until about 2am every night doing my reading assignments or writing papers only to have to get up 3 ½ hours later to start my day again.

I did this every day for 5 ½ years.

Was it worth it? Heck yeah. I got my bachelor’s degree on my wall as proof. I am the first person in my family to ever get a degree. I have multiple relatives my age who ended up dropping out for various reasons yet I managed to graduate (with honors!) while juggling a small child and a demanding job. Aside from raising my daughter, this is what I’m most proud of thus far. I read online that less than 2% of teen moms attain a college degree before age 30. I’m stoked beyond words to be a part of that 2% (Source) I hope that this struggle and success will set an example to my daughter and show her that hard work does pay off.

After college, I worked a few jobs that I wasn’t too keen on. Too corporate, too stuffy, too bureaucratic to evoke any change and make an impact. I wanted to wake up every morning and feel inspired to go to work. I didn’t just want a paycheck, I wanted to engulf myself within organization so that I could kick ass and take names. I also wanted a 401(k), health benefits and life insurance so that my bases could be covered in old age. But mainly I wanted to wake up invigorated every morning and be able to pay my bills. After college, my daughter and I moved into our first home. I loved waking her up in her room filled with the girliest of things. I was a proud mama–on my own, college educated and living life as an independent woman.

Independent but unfulfilled. That is, until I was introduced to the CEO of my most recent employer. We hit it off immediately and within two week was offered the chance of a lifetime. I was invited to join his multimillion dollar company and close-knit team as his right hand. I’d learn all the in’s and out’s of running a business in a dynamic industry and receive a nice salary. After a bit of contemplation, I decided to resign from my stuffy job to join a company I was proud to be apart of. My job was great. It was flexible, nurturing, educational and insightful. In a few short weeks, I was in the trenches with my boss handling everything from sales to contracts to finance to HR. That is, until the company suddenly went out of business. I won’t get into the details but I was told I’d have a month before we were all let go. This was the job I wanted to settle in and dedicate years to, not just a job really but a mission to which I was dedicated.

I was laid off in March with no severance pay as the company had nothing. I had a small savings which I tapped into as I began searching for a job. I had to file for unemployment for the first time, which was hard as I’ve prided myself on not having to use government resources to pay my bills. I have almost a decade of solid work history and yet I’m struggling to find a job. Places are hiring but they’re scarce and don’t always offer pay that can support a family.

My bills are piling up and I have family and friends that are in no position to help me out. Unemployment can only pay so much and it isn’t enough to put a home-cooked meal on the table or keep everything paid. I’m in the process of starting up two businesses–one that peddles vintage finds and another that provides folks with stellar resumes to land their dream job so that I can increase my cash flow, but in the meantime, I’m asking for any donations to my cause. I’m willing to offer any services in return for a donation over $30 via paypal. There’s a button below where your transaction will be processed safely and gratefully!

Please pass this on and +1 it, favorite it, retweet it and share in any way possible! No action is too small or unappreciated.

Thank you so much for letting me share my story with you.

http://educatedsinglemom.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/i-am-the-2-or-my-life-as-a-teen-mom-2/

Since today is Mother’s Day, I wanted to share my journey thus far and what it’s meant to be a mother for me. My story is unique in that I’ve overcome various obstacles to gain what some may call normalcy. Now I’m facing a struggle in which I’m hoping to tap into the kindness of the internet in order to help me through this hurdle.

I was raised by a single parent and grew up in a town where most families were on some sort of government assistance and could barely make ends meet. I was always taught to value what I had and that hard work will always bear its fruits. My high school was filled with kids who didn’t care about getting an education. I was a introverted “nerd” who took Honors and AP classes and saw education as a way to get out of a town that didn’t have much opportunity for growth. While I valued my education, I was also bored to death, even in my “accelerated classes,” so I stupidly acted out and started to party as high school kids do. I ditched class to drink and dabbled a bit in drugs because there was nothing else to do. Even as I partied, I still managed to remain on the honor roll for all 4 years. Fast forward to the beginning of my senior year, our class had 250 kids and throughout the year approximately half of the student body dropped out at one point or another, giving up on their 14 year investment in their education. I made it to the end, but while everyone was excitedly responding to college acceptance letters, I had to throw all of mine out. Why? I was pregnant. I fully accept responsibility for my actions, but sex was not talked about in my household. I had no idea I had access to birth control or condoms and foolishly made a mistake that would change my life. I went to my prom and graduation 3 months pregnant without anyone knowing aside from my family.

The summer after graduation was spent brainstorming options and finding a job to help support my unborn child. I decided to keep the baby, thinking I would give it up for adoption. I was too immature to take care of myself, and now a baby? No way. As the months progressed, I fell in love with the baby and decided to keep her and raise her with the help of my family. I was excited but deep inside I was depressed. I really wanted to go off to college and live the life of a student living on campus, making new friends, staying up late to cram for midterms and possibly travel a bit. I couldn’t do that anymore and the thought of experiencing college in any other way didn’t entice me. I also knew if I didn’t get an education, I’d be stuck in a cycle of dead end jobs all my life. I knew I didn’t want to struggle like I’ve seen my family fight just to put a decent meal on the table and keep the lights from getting shut down.

I started college two months after my daughter was born. She was perfection and an incredible motivator. I’ve always thought that she deserves something better, beyond what I can give her but I decided to try my best to give her an amazing life. Since I just had a baby, I wanted to explore the opportunities I had outside of a traditional classroom in college. Luckily, the local community college offered online courses which only required me to be in class on the first day, at midterms and during finals week. I did this for a year and a half until I took every online course possible. Then it was time for full immersion into college. Here came daycare and having to balance college life with working and a small child.

My average day in college looked like this: we’d have to wake up at the crack of dawn so my daughter and I could ride a 45-minute bus to school. Unlike most of my classmates, I had to dash straight from work to class or go to work right after class so that I could pick up my daughter from school at a proper hour. I was very fortunate to land a job in a small office as an office assistant during college that would later prove invaluable. The pay was ok, but I was allowed to tailor my schedule to be compatible with my changing class load every semester. After our day was done came another bus ride. Once we got home, I’d have to make dinner, pack us lunch for the next day, prepare her backpack with extra clothes plus wash and prepare a day’s worth of bottles for my daughter. After I put my daughter to bed was the only time I had for homework. I’d stay up until about 2am every night doing my reading assignments or writing papers only to have to get up 3 ½ hours later to start my day again.

I did this every day for 5 ½ years.

Was it worth it? Heck yeah. I got my bachelor’s degree on my wall as proof. I am the first person in my family to ever get a degree. I have multiple relatives my age who ended up dropping out for various reasons yet I managed to graduate (with honors!) while juggling a small child and a demanding job. Aside from raising my daughter, this is what I’m most proud of thus far. I read online that less than 2% of teen moms attain a college degree before age 30. I’m stoked beyond words to be a part of that 2% (Source) I hope that this struggle and success will set an example to my daughter and show her that hard work does pay off.

After college, I worked a few jobs that I wasn’t too keen on. Too corporate, too stuffy, too bureaucratic to evoke any change and make an impact. I wanted to wake up every morning and feel inspired to go to work. I didn’t just want a paycheck, I wanted to engulf myself within organization so that I could kick ass and take names. I also wanted a 401(k), health benefits and life insurance so that my bases could be covered in old age. But mainly I wanted to wake up invigorated every morning and be able to pay my bills. After college, my daughter and I moved into our first home. I loved waking her up in her room filled with the girliest of things. I was a proud mama–on my own, college educated and living life as an independent woman.

Independent but unfulfilled. That is, until I was introduced to the CEO of my most recent employer. We hit it off immediately and within two week was offered the chance of a lifetime. I was invited to join his multimillion dollar company and close-knit team as his right hand. I’d learn all the in’s and out’s of running a business in a dynamic industry and receive a nice salary. After a bit of contemplation, I decided to resign from my stuffy job to join a company I was proud to be apart of. My job was great. It was flexible, nurturing, educational and insightful. In a few short weeks, I was in the trenches with my boss handling everything from sales to contracts to finance to HR. That is, until the company suddenly went out of business. I won’t get into the details but I was told I’d have a month before we were all let go. This was the job I wanted to settle in and dedicate years to, not just a job really but a mission to which I was dedicated.

I was laid off in March with no severance pay as the company had nothing. I had a small savings which I tapped into as I began searching for a job. I had to file for unemployment for the first time, which was hard as I’ve prided myself on not having to use government resources to pay my bills. I have almost a decade of solid work history and yet I’m struggling to find a job. Places are hiring but they’re scarce and don’t always offer pay that can support a family.

My bills are piling up and I have family and friends that are in no position to help me out. Unemployment can only pay so much and it isn’t enough to put a home-cooked meal on the table or keep everything paid. I’m in the process of starting up two businesses–one that peddles vintage finds and another that provides folks with stellar resumes to land their dream job so that I can increase my cash flow, but in the meantime, I’m asking for any donations to my cause. I’m willing to offer any services in return for a donation over $30 via paypal. There’s a button below where your transaction will be processed safely and gratefully!

Please pass this on and +1 it, favorite it, retweet it and share in any way possible! No action is too small or unappreciated.

Thank you so much for letting me share my story with you.

I am kindly asking for help because I am working very hard to become successful, even though I have run into many roadblocks throughout my journey. I have several medical conditions that have deterred my goal. Even through these obstacles, I remain strong for my children and I teach them to never give up on your dreams. I will continue to work as hard as I can. I have run into financial difficulty and am asking for help so that I am able to make ends meet. Unfortunately, my bills each month outweigh my small income I receive from SSI. I am asking for any donation that is affordable to you. Every penny counts and I appreciate anything that you can give.

Thank you.

I never thought I would be on one of these sites. I worked very very hard to get to where I am today and now I am faced with losing it all.

We had a very difficult last couple of monthes, but manageable. I was sick for a month or so, nothing serious but enough to exhaust me. It all started with a minor yet very painful back injury. We, made a decision to purchase a friendlier mattress as my husband and I both work in intensive labor jobs and our bodies have taken quite a toll. It helps emmensely and although i was still sick, i was sleeping through the night. Recently married in August, we have about 10,000 in credit card debt, most of which is still paying for the wedding. Being suckers for animals, we took in an abandoned cat a couple monthes back.. she turned out to be pregant with behavioral issues. We kept 2 of the kittens, making 4 cats total, which is a huge adjustment. The damage to our apartment though is considerable. We figured by the time we decided to move we'd have the damages saved up as it is importnat to leave the apartment int he best shape possible. I knew we had stretched ourselves a little thin but I figured we'd be able to catch up in a couple monthes. After vet bills to care for the cats (a staggering $400) we were settling in to figure how to bring ourselves back on track. My husband's job puts him at risk for injury, as does mine. He was diagnosed with a hernia a week ago and meets with the surgeon to schedule the repair before it gets worse (it is already interfereing with his life as it is painful).

This morning my husband lost his job and I was put on notice. We cannot pay our bills. The timing is the perfect storm and we are desperaste.

We know we made poor decisions. This is too public a venue to truly explain How far we both have come in our lives, the obstacles we overcame to get here and how vehemently hard we worked to make our lives what they have been these last couple of years. There was a time I would not have dared to dream my life could be so blessed. And now, a few small mistakes could take it all away.

I am hoping to get a little money, any money really..to help offset our bills so that we have time to find another job. This website is my my desperate plea.
thank you

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED in donating any amt. of $$ at all, please click the YELLOW button as the green one is not linked to anything. thank you

Hi I don't know what to say...
I am a golden hearted girl trying to make a stand in the world.
I have a peace song dedicated to the Vets,Cultures,Children,Broken and Bruised of the World.
I have put my heart into standing up for my beliefs and people who have been hurt. I have lost people who I thought were my friends because I caught them hurting a child. This has hurt my heart greatly. I want to be an inspirational person. I want to help further empower people to be themselves {to thine ownself be true} I have overcome obstacles such as molestation and abuse myself to help these other people. I need just $2,000 to get a vehicle to be free of my familys negativity and control so that I can travel south and put my faith and energy into a dream. It is so important that I get out of here. Its actually a desperate situation I am in. I am surrounded by lots of people abusing substances and being emotionally abusive themselves. My own family is racist and rich but won't help me because they percieved my peace song to be an "anti-bush anthem" its alot of heartbreak and i feel if i could just get away from them and be with the people of the world-then my own heart could finally be at peace....
email me: clarissacares@care2.com

Hi. I cant believe I;m begging online. I expect no response to this, but view it as a place to vent. Good things just haven't happened to me for a long time. Here I go anyway... I am writing because I am in desperate need for help. I am a 35 year old single dad with a 9 year old daughter. Let me begin by explaining my situation. My former employer, in the building supply industry, went out of business a few years ago. The economy has not rebounded making building industry jobs scarce. I have since then put myself through schooling to become an emergency medical technician as I stand a chance at getting hired by my local fire department if the economy improves. I am aiming for a career change to get back into the work force. I had to change careers for economic as well as health reasons. Shortly after my company went out of business, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, a debilitating disease affecting the digestive tract. The disease caused me to lose 75 lbs (30% of my body mass) in 8 months. I have been proactive in drastically changing my diet and getting the proper medical care and medicine (Thank God for Medicaid).
Even with medical care, I am still sick every day but I am making the disease more manageable. I applied for disability and received a response back that my condition is indeed disabling, preventing me from working, but would resolve in a year. Hopefully it does, but it is classified as an incurable disease that leads to repeated surgeries in 75% of the patients diagnosed with the disease. On the flip side of that statistic is a growing hope that alternative therapies may work… but take time to custom tailor to the individual. They are also expensive and not covered by Medicaid or private sector insurance. I have spoken to a disability attorney who is ready to represent me if necessary. I am only seeking disability as my “Plan B” if all else fails. I want to become a productive member of society again. I do have a “Plan A”, but I have a LOT of obstacles ahead of me.
This has all had a devastating effect on my finances. Last summer my gas was turned off the day after my daughter’s heart surgery. The gas was turned back on based on medical necessity. As of this week, my gas is turned off again and LIHEAP cannot assist me. I can’t seem to ever have the “Timing” right to get assistance. My electric is also on the verge of being shut off. My home is in foreclosure but the bank has agreed to work with me if I can find employment fast. I have just received a job offer that I graciously accepted. I start in a week. Just before receiving the job offer, while biking with my daughter, I had a mini stroke which caused me to go unconscious while riding. I crashed, broke my ribs, clavicle, hurt my spine, bruised my brain and lung, received several stitches, etc.. I pray that my health stabilizes to allow me to work. My daughter lives with me in this house. I would like to save it from foreclosure mainly for her sake. It’s where she has grown up. It’s a few blocks from her school where I want to keep her. My adopted 9 year old daughter, who I love a lot, has a very difficult speech impediment and learning disability. She already has special education and speech therapy in place with professionals that have worked with her for many years and know her needs. It would be very difficult to have to move away and have to make her start over in another school. I love my daughter a lot and will do anything to provide for her a life that she deserves… with my own limited resources. I say all that to illustrate “in short” that I need help. I have asked relatives and friends for help throughout the year and they are “Tapped”. My church is also in the same situation. I have sold most of my possessions to afford my phone bill, auto insurance, and auto fuel. My daughter and I currently have Medicaid and SNAP food assistance.
My goals are to:
1) I need to rebuild my professional wardrobe. I have lost a lot of weight and consequently have been working on buying dress clothes for my new job. I am to wear solid black suits. I am a 44L with a 38” Waist and 34” Inseam. Size 14 Black oxford shoes. I will graciously accept presentable used items. I can buy 3 inexpensive nice black suits for $80 each. $50 for shoes.
2) I have to keep going to my doctors and maintain and improve my health. I have just been referred off for advanced level care. The travel expenses are going to be very high. I will have to stay overnight in a hotel somehow for some procedures.
3) I will have to afford to drive to work. I will have to keep myself insured and afford the initial cash outset for my first 2-3 weeks of work. I am traveling far to work and it will cost me about $125 a week in fuel. $60/ month in insurance.
4) I have to get my gas turned back on. I am looking at having to come up with an impossible $5000 to get it turned back on.
5) I just bought and installed an used electric water heater and dryer. I have no way as of yet to heat my house this winter.
6) I have to catch up on my $1500 electric bill. Hopefully I can do so or I will have to abandon my house and give up hope. I may have to move to a different state with different utility companies.
7) If I can accomplish the above goals in a short amount of time, I stand a very strong chance at getting my mortgage modified and staying in my home. I can then only have to worry about the basics of life in addition to my health and my daughter’s heart and special needs.
I am facing some tough challenges. I cannot do it on my own. I have nowhere to turn. I would appreciate any assistance or advice on where to go for assistance.
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I appreciate your help.

Hello! I am 18 years old and just graduated and, although it is a milestone, I know it is only the beginning of my life. To prepare myself for all of the new challenges and tribulations I will have as an adult, I have choose to go a different path then most of my classmates. Instead of going to college right away or taking a year off, I have decided to do a BDTS (Backpackers Discipleship Training School) in New Zealand.


DTS is the training program for Youth With A Mission (YWAM). YWAM is a world-wide, youth based missionary organization whose motto is "to know God and to make him known." Each DTS starts with a 3 month lecture faze meant for me to "know God." During this time i will be stationed in New Zealand studying various topics and learning from multiple speakers. On the weekends me and my team will make trips to Christchurch as well as adventurous outdoor trips. After that, the next faze is the outreach to "make him known." This is the part where i will be backpacking around New Zealand with my team spreading the word of God. After that i graduate from the program and am able to become a part of the organization's staff.

I am so excited to do this training. This Training is just what I need to set a good foundation with Christ in my life before being thrown into the college life to become a nurse.

Of course, there are also large obstacles set in front of me that, if it were not for God, I would see as without a solution.

This specific backpacking DTS is offered only once every few years and costs $11,000. That is including the $3000 plane ticket, backpacking gear, food, tuition, traveling within NZ and health insurance. I have raised, thanks to the help of my family, friends and my church, $8,600. This leaves me with about $2500 left to raise by September 28th of 2011 (just a few months away now).

I KNOW that with the help my friends, family, my two jobs, God and you, it WILL happen. I know this because God wants me to go. Simple as that. And when God wants something, he makes it happen as long as you cooperate and trust in him. And that, I do.

If donating is something you feel you are be able to do I would be so very thankful. And I remind you that anything helps. Being a waitress, I know that even small quantities add up to a large sum.

For information on YWAM and DTS please visit ywam.org/training and for information on my specific DTS go to ywamoxford.org/backpackers

Hello! I am 18 years old and just graduated and, although it is a milestone, I know it is only the beginning of my life. To prepare myself for all of the new challenges and tribulations I will have as an adult, I have choose to go a different path then most of my classmates. Instead of going to college right away or taking a year off, I have decided to do a BDTS (Backpackers Discipleship Training School) in New Zealand.


DTS is the training program for Youth With A Mission (YWAM). YWAM is a world-wide, youth based missionary organization whose motto is "to know God and to make him known." Each DTS starts with a 3 month lecture faze meant for me to "know God." During this time i will be stationed in New Zealand studying various topics and learning from multiple speakers. On the weekends me and my team will make trips to Christchurch as well as adventurous outdoor trips. After that, the next faze is the outreach to "make him known." This is the part where i will be backpacking around New Zealand with my team spreading the word of God. After that i graduate from the program and am able to become a part of the organization's staff.

I am so excited to do this training. This Training is just what I need to set a good foundation with Christ in my life before being thrown into the college life to become a nurse.

Of course, there are also large obstacles set in front of me that, if it were not for God, I would see as without a solution.

This specific backpacking DTS is offered only once every few years and costs $11,000. That is including the $3000 plane ticket, backpacking gear, food, tuition, traveling within NZ and health insurance. I have raised, thanks to the help of my family, friends and my church, $8,600. This leaves me with about $2500 left to raise by September 28th of 2011 (just a few months away now).

I KNOW that with the help my friends, family, my two jobs, God and you, it WILL happen. I know this because God wants me to go. Simple as that. And when God wants something, he makes it happen as long as you cooperate and trust in him. And that, I do.

If donating is something you feel you are be able to do I would be so very thankful. And I remind you that anything helps. Being a waitress, I know that even small quantities add up to a large sum.

For information on YWAM and DTS please visit ywam.org/training and for information on my specific DTS go to ywamoxford.org/backpackers

Hello! I am 18 years old and just graduated and, although it is a milestone, I know it is only the beginning of my life. To prepare myself for all of the new challenges and tribulations I will have as an adult, I have choose to go a different path then most of my classmates. Instead of going to college right away or taking a year off, I have decided to do a BDTS (Backpackers Discipleship Training School) in New Zealand.


DTS is the training program for Youth With A Mission (YWAM). YWAM is a world-wide, youth based missionary organization whose motto is "to know God and to make him known." Each DTS starts with a 3 month lecture faze meant for me to "know God." During this time i will be stationed in New Zealand studying various topics and learning from multiple speakers. On the weekends me and my team will make trips to Christchurch as well as adventurous outdoor trips. After that, the next faze is the outreach to "make him known." This is the part where i will be backpacking around New Zealand with my team spreading the word of God. After that i graduate from the program and am able to become a part of the organization's staff.

I am so excited to do this training. This Training is just what I need to set a good foundation with Christ in my life before being thrown into the college life to become a nurse.

Of course, there are also large obstacles set in front of me that, if it were not for God, I would see as without a solution.

This specific backpacking DTS is offered only once every few years and costs $11,000. That is including the $3000 plane ticket, backpacking gear, food, tuition, traveling within NZ and health insurance. I have raised, thanks to the help of my family, friends and my church, $8,600. This leaves me with about $2500 left to raise by September 28th of 2011 (just a few months away now).

I KNOW that with the help my friends, family, my two jobs, God and you, it WILL happen. I know this because God wants me to go. Simple as that. And when God wants something, he makes it happen as long as you cooperate and trust in him. And that, I do.

If donating is something you feel you are be able to do I would be so very thankful. And I remind you that anything helps. Being a waitress, I know that even small quantities add up to a large sum.

For information on YWAM and DTS please visit ywam.org/training and for information on my specific DTS go to ywamoxford.org/backpackers

My husband and I have bought a building and have done some serious renovations to make a local coffee and sandwich shop that would also provide art classes and music on the weekends. There are 2 very nice apt. above that help make the mortgage. We ran into more problems than we expected renovating the lower half and ran out of the money we saved up. We are about 3/4 of the way there. We were lucky enough to purchase much of our equipment at local auctions (all NSF approved) so our biggest obstacles at this point are supplies for plumbing and some marlite for bathrooms as well as some paint and then money to buy the initial inventory of food. We are so close and don't want to give up now. The other part of our story has to do with my son. A year and a half ago he was run over by a bus. He is doing miraculously well, better than anyone expected and I need the flexibility that owning a small business would allow me for his continued medical treatments. I am lucky to live in a community in which I have many friends who have offered to work shifts in my absence. Everyone here is really excited about the prospect of having a place for artists and families to gather and I'm excited about being able to give back to our wonderful community. Please help our dream to become a reality. If you want to know more about us check out www.javaandjivecoffeehouse.com (my husband is a wonderful webdesigner) and you can read about my son's accident and miraculous recovery at http://www.dailypress.net/page/content.detail/id/517545/Miraculous-recovery.html Thank you for taking the time to read this.

My name is Jeremi. I'm a single father to a 9 year old boy...Justin... I am trying to be the parent I was never given... I teach him and I show him love... but I want to show him more than the inside of homeless shelters. Please read my story...

As a teen I partied, did drugs, and had a great time mainly because I had absent parents that didn't care what i did and no one to give me direction...I had spent time homeless as a teen and had nothing... I myself turned everything around starting the day my son was conceived because I was determined to be a good father, and by 25 I owned a few apartment buildings, I no longer partied because I had a son and I vowed that I would be the parent I never had so he can have a bright future... I was financially stable and good with money... everyone saw me moving up from nothing... I felt proud of where I had taken my life... 3 years later in the spring of one year I got injured at work by crushing my leg with a fork truck which put me out of work... That following summer while I was still healing my sons mother passed away at 23 from a heart condition... Then in the winter of that same year my most profitable apartment building burned to the ground... All of this happened in one year!!!! I could have weathered any one of these events and recovered fairly quickly but not all of that at once...I lost 90% of my income and with what I made I could not afford the credit and mortgages I had outstanding... I was getting creditor threats constantly and I was going to lose what I had left to repossession and seizure... I knew some people that made money selling drugs and I made the stupid decision to give it a try... I was panicking and it was a last resort... I figured I could get in, make enough money to get back on track, and get out quick!!... unfortunately i was not a very good drug dealer... I got caught a matter of weeks after starting... The police raided my house... my son was only 3-4 at the time and was there for the whole thing... I was devastated... I was charged with trafficking cocaine in a school zone on top of a bunch of other charges they throw in for good measure... I couldn't afford bail and sat in jail for the LONGEST 6 months of my life...and social services took my son and told me I was never going to see him again!!!.... while sitting in jail I had no hope as I was looking at 15-25 years in prison minimum and my public defender said i was definitely doing at least the minimum... my life was over and I just wanted to die... while I was in there my sister (the only one in my life that didn't give up on me)sold off what I had left to be able to afford bail and a private attorney... My private attorney was a MIRACLE WORKER!!!! LITERALLY!!!!! The court battle took FFOOOORRREEVER but at the end I got 1 year probation!!!!! That's it!!! from almost a guaranteed 15 years in prison to only 1 year probation... I cant even ask God for a lottery winning after a gift like that... it really was a miracle and to ask for more in my life would be selfish... I didnt think i was going to get to raise my son... by the time I got out of prison he would have been a man... I would have been his biological father but he would be the creation of someone else... My son is all that means anything to me in this life and to lose him would be the end of me... Even after being freed from the possible prison outcome I had lost my son to social services and they weren't going to give him back to me... they fought hard to keep him away from me...I had to fight them legally with literally every penny I had left but in the end I got full custody back... Now I have my son and I am happy and like I said I cant really ask for more because I have overcome some impossible obstacles that I can only attribute to actual miracles because there really is no other explanation... But I have nothing else... My son and I have been living in a family homeless shelter because I can not afford anything... I am unemployed due to having a chronic eye condition called Uveitis... I would still work and I still look for work but even though I didn't go to prison everything I got charged with is still on my record and when I apply for jobs I get declined for all of them because of the criminal background checks... I've been turned down by so many companies that I am losing hope... I don't want to be a failure and I want to be able to raise my son better... I cant bring him up in homeless shelters and I need to feel better about myself but I don't see any way out of this situation except asking for another miracle... and like I said asking for another miracle feels selfish so I don't even ask God for any more because what he's done for me already is more than I should have gotten... My goal is to be a landlord again... I was good at it!!! I enjoyed it!!! I tell my son all the time... if I could get my hands on one million dollars free and clear I would buy 3-4 apartment buildings with all of the money all at once and get started building my career off of the rental income... I would be right back where I was before this all started... At the current rate it will take me decades (if at all) to get back to where I was if I don't get help... there is just too much to overcome... my credit is at rock bottom... I still have debt of almost $100,000.00 and I cant afford bankruptcy fees to get rid of it... I have no hope of finding a good job due to my mistake... I have no money for continuing education and already outstanding student loans and criminal history that prevent me from obtaining any assistance... My son and I live in homeless shelters... and I have next to no income... I need help.... I want to give my son hope for a good life and I can't without the miracle I can't ask God for... If there is anyone out there that can get me right back in the game...right back to where I was...I will pay it back or even pay it forward to someone else that needs it... Just contact me any time to talk it over...qmco@hotmail.com...

If you made it this far THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO JUST LISTEN TO MY STORY.....

My name is Jeremi. I'm a single father to a 9 year old boy...Justin... I am trying to be the parent I was never given... I teach him and I show him love... but I want to show him more than the inside of homeless shelters. Please read my story...

As a teen I partied, did drugs, and had a great time mainly because I had absent parents that didn't care what i did and no one to give me direction...I had spent time homeless as a teen and had nothing... I myself turned everything around starting the day my son was conceived because I was determined to be a good father, and by 25 I owned a few apartment buildings, I no longer partied because I had a son and I vowed that I would be the parent I never had so he can have a bright future... I was financially stable and good with money... everyone saw me moving up from nothing... I felt proud of where I had taken my life... 3 years later in the spring of one year I got injured at work by crushing my leg with a fork truck which put me out of work... That following summer while I was still healing my sons mother passed away at 23 from a heart condition... Then in the winter of that same year my most profitable apartment building burned to the ground... All of this happened in one year!!!! I could have weathered any one of these events and recovered fairly quickly but not all of that at once...I lost 90% of my income and with what I made I could not afford the credit and mortgages I had outstanding... I was getting creditor threats constantly and I was going to lose what I had left to repossession and seizure... I knew some people that made money selling drugs and I made the stupid decision to give it a try... I was panicking and it was a last resort... I figured I could get in, make enough money to get back on track, and get out quick!!... unfortunately i was not a very good drug dealer... I got caught a matter of weeks after starting... The police raided my house... my son was only 3-4 at the time and was there for the whole thing... I was devastated... I was charged with trafficking cocaine in a school zone on top of a bunch of other charges they throw in for good measure... I couldn't afford bail and sat in jail for the LONGEST 6 months of my life...and social services took my son and told me I was never going to see him again!!!.... while sitting in jail I had no hope as I was looking at 15-25 years in prison minimum and my public defender said i was definitely doing at least the minimum... my life was over and I just wanted to die... while I was in there my sister (the only one in my life that didn't give up on me)sold off what I had left to be able to afford bail and a private attorney... My private attorney was a MIRACLE WORKER!!!! LITERALLY!!!!! The court battle took FFOOOORRREEVER but at the end I got 1 year probation!!!!! That's it!!! from almost a guaranteed 15 years in prison to only 1 year probation... I cant even ask God for a lottery winning after a gift like that... it really was a miracle and to ask for more in my life would be selfish... I didnt think i was going to get to raise my son... by the time I got out of prison he would have been a man... I would have been his biological father but he would be the creation of someone else... My son is all that means anything to me in this life and to lose him would be the end of me... Even after being freed from the possible prison outcome I had lost my son to social services and they weren't going to give him back to me... they fought hard to keep him away from me...I had to fight them legally with literally every penny I had left but in the end I got full custody back... Now I have my son and I am happy and like I said I cant really ask for more because I have overcome some impossible obstacles that I can only attribute to actual miracles because there really is no other explanation... But I have nothing else... My son and I have been living in a family homeless shelter because I can not afford anything... I am unemployed due to having a chronic eye condition called Uveitis... I would still work and I still look for work but even though I didn't go to prison everything I got charged with is still on my record and when I apply for jobs I get declined for all of them because of the criminal background checks... I've been turned down by so many companies that I am losing hope... I don't want to be a failure and I want to be able to raise my son better... I cant bring him up in homeless shelters and I need to feel better about myself but I don't see any way out of this situation except asking for another miracle... and like I said asking for another miracle feels selfish so I don't even ask God for any more because what he's done for me already is more than I should have gotten... My goal is to be a landlord again... I was good at it!!! I enjoyed it!!! I tell my son all the time... if I could get my hands on one million dollars free and clear I would buy 3-4 apartment buildings with all of the money all at once and get started building my career off of the rental income... I would be right back where I was before this all started... At the current rate it will take me decades (if at all) to get back to where I was if I don't get help... there is just too much to overcome... my credit is at rock bottom... I still have debt of almost $100,000.00 and I cant afford bankruptcy fees to get rid of it... I have no hope of finding a good job due to my mistake... I have no money for continuing education and already outstanding student loans and criminal history that prevent me from obtaining any assistance... My son and I live in homeless shelters... and I have next to no income... I need help.... I want to give my son hope for a good life and I can't without the miracle I can't ask God for... If there is anyone out there that can get me right back in the game...right back to where I was...I will pay it back or even pay it forward to someone else that needs it... Just contact me any time to talk it over...qmco@hotmail.com...

If you made it this far THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO JUST LISTEN TO MY STORY.....

My name is Jeremi. I'm a single father to a 9 year old boy...Justin... I am trying to be the parent I was never given... I teach him and I show him love... but I want to show him more than the inside of homeless shelters. Please read my story...

As a teen I partied, did drugs, and had a great time mainly because I had absent parents that didn't care what i did and no one to give me direction...I had spent time homeless as a teen and had nothing... I myself turned everything around starting the day my son was conceived because I was determined to be a good father, and by 25 I owned a few apartment buildings, I no longer partied because I had a son and I vowed that I would be the parent I never had so he can have a bright future... I was financially stable and good with money... everyone saw me moving up from nothing... I felt proud of where I had taken my life... 3 years later in the spring of one year I got injured at work by crushing my leg with a fork truck which put me out of work... That following summer while I was still healing my sons mother passed away at 23 from a heart condition... Then in the winter of that same year my most profitable apartment building burned to the ground... All of this happened in one year!!!! I could have weathered any one of these events and recovered fairly quickly but not all of that at once...I lost 90% of my income and with what I made I could not afford the credit and mortgages I had outstanding... I was getting creditor threats constantly and I was going to lose what I had left to repossession and seizure... I knew some people that made money selling drugs and I made the stupid decision to give it a try... I was panicking and it was a last resort... I figured I could get in, make enough money to get back on track, and get out quick!!... unfortunately i was not a very good drug dealer... I got caught a matter of weeks after starting... The police raided my house... my son was only 3-4 at the time and was there for the whole thing... I was devastated... I was charged with trafficking cocaine in a school zone on top of a bunch of other charges they throw in for good measure... I couldn't afford bail and sat in jail for the LONGEST 6 months of my life...and social services took my son and told me I was never going to see him again!!!.... while sitting in jail I had no hope as I was looking at 15-25 years in prison minimum and my public defender said i was definitely doing at least the minimum... my life was over and I just wanted to die... while I was in there my sister (the only one in my life that didn't give up on me)sold off what I had left to be able to afford bail and a private attorney... My private attorney was a MIRACLE WORKER!!!! LITERALLY!!!!! The court battle took FFOOOORRREEVER but at the end I got 1 year probation!!!!! That's it!!! from almost a guaranteed 15 years in prison to only 1 year probation... I cant even ask God for a lottery winning after a gift like that... it really was a miracle and to ask for more in my life would be selfish... I didnt think i was going to get to raise my son... by the time I got out of prison he would have been a man... I would have been his biological father but he would be the creation of someone else... My son is all that means anything to me in this life and to lose him would be the end of me... Even after being freed from the possible prison outcome I had lost my son to social services and they weren't going to give him back to me... they fought hard to keep him away from me...I had to fight them legally with literally every penny I had left but in the end I got full custody back... Now I have my son and I am happy and like I said I cant really ask for more because I have overcome some impossible obstacles that I can only attribute to actual miracles because there really is no other explanation... But I have nothing else... My son and I have been living in a family homeless shelter because I can not afford anything... I am unemployed due to having a chronic eye condition called Uveitis... I would still work and I still look for work but even though I didn't go to prison everything I got charged with is still on my record and when I apply for jobs I get declined for all of them because of the criminal background checks... I've been turned down by so many companies that I am losing hope... I don't want to be a failure and I want to be able to raise my son better... I cant bring him up in homeless shelters and I need to feel better about myself but I don't see any way out of this situation except asking for another miracle... and like I said asking for another miracle feels selfish so I don't even ask God for any more because what he's done for me already is more than I should have gotten... My goal is to be a landlord again... I was good at it!!! I enjoyed it!!! I tell my son all the time... if I could get my hands on one million dollars free and clear I would buy 3-4 apartment buildings with all of the money all at once and get started building my career off of the rental income... I would be right back where I was before this all started... At the current rate it will take me decades (if at all) to get back to where I was if I don't get help... there is just too much to overcome... my credit is at rock bottom... I still have debt of almost $100,000.00 and I cant afford bankruptcy fees to get rid of it... I have no hope of finding a good job due to my mistake... I have no money for continuing education and already outstanding student loans and criminal history that prevent me from obtaining any assistance... My son and I live in homeless shelters... and I have next to no income... I need help.... I want to give my son hope for a good life and I can't without the miracle I can't ask God for... If there is anyone out there that can get me right back in the game...right back to where I was...I will pay it back or even pay it forward to someone else that needs it... Just contact me any time to talk it over...qmco@hotmail.com...

My name is Jeremi. I'm a single father to a 9 year old boy...Justin... I am trying to be the parent I was never given... I teach him and I show him love... but I want to show him more than the inside of homeless shelters. Please read my story...

As a teen I partied, did drugs, and had a great time mainly because I had absent parents that didn't care what i did and no one to give me direction...I had spent time homeless as a teen and had nothing... I myself turned everything around starting the day my son was conceived because I was determined to be a good father, and by 25 I owned a few apartment buildings, I no longer partied because I had a son and I vowed that I would be the parent I never had so he can have a bright future... I was financially stable and good with money... everyone saw me moving up from nothing... I felt proud of where I had taken my life... 3 years later in the spring of one year I got injured at work by crushing my leg with a fork truck which put me out of work... That following summer while I was still healing my sons mother passed away at 23 from a heart condition... Then in the winter of that same year my most profitable apartment building burned to the ground... All of this happened in one year!!!! I could have weathered any one of these events and recovered fairly quickly but not all of that at once...I lost 90% of my income and with what I made I could not afford the credit and mortgages I had outstanding... I was getting creditor threats constantly and I was going to lose what I had left to repossession and seizure... I knew some people that made money selling drugs and I made the stupid decision to give it a try... I was panicking and it was a last resort... I figured I could get in, make enough money to get back on track, and get out quick!!... unfortunately i was not a very good drug dealer... I got caught a matter of weeks after starting... The police raided my house... my son was only 3-4 at the time and was there for the whole thing... I was devastated... I was charged with trafficking cocaine in a school zone on top of a bunch of other charges they throw in for good measure... I couldn't afford bail and sat in jail for the LONGEST 6 months of my life...and social services took my son and told me I was never going to see him again!!!.... while sitting in jail I had no hope as I was looking at 15-25 years in prison minimum and my public defender said i was definitely doing at least the minimum... my life was over and I just wanted to die... while I was in there my sister (the only one in my life that didn't give up on me)sold off what I had left to be able to afford bail and a private attorney... My private attorney was a MIRACLE WORKER!!!! LITERALLY!!!!! The court battle took FFOOOORRREEVER but at the end I got 1 year probation!!!!! That's it!!! from almost a guaranteed 15 years in prison to only 1 year probation... I cant even ask God for a lottery winning after a gift like that... it really was a miracle and to ask for more in my life would be selfish... I didnt think i was going to get to raise my son... by the time I got out of prison he would have been a man... I would have been his biological father but he would be the creation of someone else... My son is all that means anything to me in this life and to lose him would be the end of me... Even after being freed from the possible prison outcome I had lost my son to social services and they weren't going to give him back to me... they fought hard to keep him away from me...I had to fight them legally with literally every penny I had left but in the end I got full custody back... Now I have my son and I am happy and like I said I cant really ask for more because I have overcome some impossible obstacles that I can only attribute to actual miracles because there really is no other explanation... But I have nothing else... My son and I have been living in a family homeless shelter because I can not afford anything... I am unemployed due to having a chronic eye condition called Uveitis... I would still work and I still look for work but even though I didn't go to prison everything I got charged with is still on my record and when I apply for jobs I get declined for all of them because of the criminal background checks... I've been turned down by so many companies that I am losing hope... I don't want to be a failure and I want to be able to raise my son better... I cant bring him up in homeless shelters and I need to feel better about myself but I don't see any way out of this situation except asking for another miracle... and like I said asking for another miracle feels selfish so I don't even ask God for any more because what he's done for me already is more than I should have gotten... My goal is to be a landlord again... I was good at it!!! I enjoyed it!!! I tell my son all the time... if I could get my hands on one million dollars free and clear I would buy 3-4 apartment buildings with all of the money all at once and get started building my career off of the rental income... I would be right back where I was before this all started... At the current rate it will take me decades (if at all) to get back to where I was if I don't get help... there is just too much to overcome... my credit is at rock bottom... I still have debt of almost $100,000.00 and I cant afford bankruptcy fees to get rid of it... I have no hope of finding a good job due to my mistake... I have no money for continuing education and already outstanding student loans and criminal history that prevent me from obtaining any assistance... My son and I live in homeless shelters... and I have next to no income... I need help.... I want to give my son hope for a good life and I can't without the miracle I can't ask God for... If there is anyone out there that can get me right back in the game...right back to where I was...I will pay it back or even pay it forward to someone else that needs it... Just contact me any time to talk it over...qmco@hotmail.com...

My name is Jeremi. I'm a single father to a 9 year old boy...Justin... I am trying to be the parent I was never given... I teach him and I show him love... but I want to show him more than the inside of homeless shelters. Please read my story...

As a teen I partied, did drugs, and had a great time mainly because I had absent parents that didn't care what i did and no one to give me direction...I had spent time homeless as a teen and had nothing... I myself turned everything around starting the day my son was conceived because I was determined to be a good father, and by 25 I owned a few apartment buildings, I no longer partied because I had a son and I vowed that I would be the parent I never had so he can have a bright future... I was financially stable and good with money... everyone saw me moving up from nothing... I felt proud of where I had taken my life... 3 years later in the spring of one year I got injured at work by crushing my leg with a fork truck which put me out of work... That following summer while I was still healing my sons mother passed away at 23 from a heart condition... Then in the winter of that same year my most profitable apartment building burned to the ground... All of this happened in one year!!!! I could have weathered any one of these events and recovered fairly quickly but not all of that at once...I lost 90% of my income and with what I made I could not afford the credit and mortgages I had outstanding... I was getting creditor threats constantly and I was going to lose what I had left to repossession and seizure... I knew some people that made money selling drugs and I made the stupid decision to give it a try... I was panicking and it was a last resort... I figured I could get in, make enough money to get back on track, and get out quick!!... unfortunately i was not a very good drug dealer... I got caught a matter of weeks after starting... The police raided my house... my son was only 3-4 at the time and was there for the whole thing... I was devastated... I was charged with trafficking cocaine in a school zone on top of a bunch of other charges they throw in for good measure... I couldn't afford bail and sat in jail for the LONGEST 6 months of my life...and social services took my son and told me I was never going to see him again!!!.... while sitting in jail I had no hope as I was looking at 15-25 years in prison minimum and my public defender said i was definitely doing at least the minimum... my life was over and I just wanted to die... while I was in there my sister (the only one in my life that didn't give up on me)sold off what I had left to be able to afford bail and a private attorney... My private attorney was a MIRACLE WORKER!!!! LITERALLY!!!!! The court battle took FFOOOORRREEVER but at the end I got 1 year probation!!!!! That's it!!! from almost a guaranteed 15 years in prison to only 1 year probation... I cant even ask God for a lottery winning after a gift like that... it really was a miracle and to ask for more in my life would be selfish... I didnt think i was going to get to raise my son... by the time I got out of prison he would have been a man... I would have been his biological father but he would be the creation of someone else... My son is all that means anything to me in this life and to lose him would be the end of me... Even after being freed from the possible prison outcome I had lost my son to social services and they weren't going to give him back to me... they fought hard to keep him away from me...I had to fight them legally with literally every penny I had left but in the end I got full custody back... Now I have my son and I am happy and like I said I cant really ask for more because I have overcome some impossible obstacles that I can only attribute to actual miracles because there really is no other explanation... But I have nothing else... My son and I have been living in a family homeless shelter because I can not afford anything... I am unemployed due to having a chronic eye condition called Uveitis... I would still work and I still look for work but even though I didn't go to prison everything I got charged with is still on my record and when I apply for jobs I get declined for all of them because of the criminal background checks... I've been turned down by so many companies that I am losing hope... I don't want to be a failure and I want to be able to raise my son better... I cant bring him up in homeless shelters and I need to feel better about myself but I don't see any way out of this situation except asking for another miracle... and like I said asking for another miracle feels selfish so I don't even ask God for any more because what he's done for me already is more than I should have gotten... My goal is to be a landlord again... I was good at it!!! I enjoyed it!!! I tell my son all the time... if I could get my hands on one million dollars free and clear I would buy 3-4 apartment buildings with all of the money all at once and get started building my career off of the rental income... I would be right back where I was before this all started... At the current rate it will take me decades (if at all) to get back to where I was if I don't get help... there is just too much to overcome... my credit is at rock bottom... I still have debt of almost $100,000.00 and I cant afford bankruptcy fees to get rid of it... I have no hope of finding a good job due to my mistake... I have no money for continuing education and already outstanding student loans and criminal history that prevent me from obtaining any assistance... My son and I live in homeless shelters... and I have next to no income... I need help.... I want to give my son hope for a good life and I can't without the miracle I can't ask God for... If there is anyone out there that can get me right back in the game...right back to where I was...I will pay it back or even pay it forward to someone else that needs it... Just contact me any time to talk it over...qmco@hotmail.com...

My name is Jeremi. I'm a single father to a 9 year old boy...Justin... I am trying to be the parent I was never given... I teach him and I show him love... but I want to show him more than the inside of homeless shelters. Please read my story...

As a teen I partied, did drugs, and had a great time mainly because I had absent parents that didn't care what i did and no one to give me direction...I had spent time homeless as a teen and had nothing... I myself turned everything around starting the day my son was conceived because I was determined to be a good father, and by 25 I owned a few apartment buildings, I no longer partied because I had a son and I vowed that I would be the parent I never had so he can have a bright future... I was financially stable and good with money... everyone saw me moving up from nothing... I felt proud of where I had taken my life... 3 years later in the spring of one year I got injured at work by crushing my leg with a fork truck which put me out of work... That following summer while I was still healing my sons mother passed away at 23 from a heart condition... Then in the winter of that same year my most profitable apartment building burned to the ground... All of this happened in one year!!!! I could have weathered any one of these events and recovered fairly quickly but not all of that at once...I lost 90% of my income and with what I made I could not afford the credit and mortgages I had outstanding... I was getting creditor threats constantly and I was going to lose what I had left to repossession and seizure... I knew some people that made money selling drugs and I made the stupid decision to give it a try... I was panicking and it was a last resort... I figured I could get in, make enough money to get back on track, and get out quick!!... unfortunately i was not a very good drug dealer... I got caught a matter of weeks after starting... The police raided my house... my son was only 3-4 at the time and was there for the whole thing... I was devastated... I was charged with trafficking cocaine in a school zone on top of a bunch of other charges they throw in for good measure... I couldn't afford bail and sat in jail for the LONGEST 6 months of my life...and social services took my son and told me I was never going to see him again!!!.... while sitting in jail I had no hope as I was looking at 15-25 years in prison minimum and my public defender said i was definitely doing at least the minimum... my life was over and I just wanted to die... while I was in there my sister (the only one in my life that didn't give up on me)sold off what I had left to be able to afford bail and a private attorney... My private attorney was a MIRACLE WORKER!!!! LITERALLY!!!!! The court battle took FFOOOORRREEVER but at the end I got 1 year probation!!!!! That's it!!! from almost a guaranteed 15 years in prison to only 1 year probation... I cant even ask God for a lottery winning after a gift like that... it really was a miracle and to ask for more in my life would be selfish... I didnt think i was going to get to raise my son... by the time I got out of prison he would have been a man... I would have been his biological father but he would be the creation of someone else... My son is all that means anything to me in this life and to lose him would be the end of me... Even after being freed from the possible prison outcome I had lost my son to social services and they weren't going to give him back to me... they fought hard to keep him away from me...I had to fight them legally with literally every penny I had left but in the end I got full custody back... Now I have my son and I am happy and like I said I cant really ask for more because I have overcome some impossible obstacles that I can only attribute to actual miracles because there really is no other explanation... But I have nothing else... My son and I have been living in a family homeless shelter because I can not afford anything... I am unemployed due to having a chronic eye condition called Uveitis... I would still work and I still look for work but even though I didn't go to prison everything I got charged with is still on my record and when I apply for jobs I get declined for all of them because of the criminal background checks... I've been turned down by so many companies that I am losing hope... I don't want to be a failure and I want to be able to raise my son better... I cant bring him up in homeless shelters and I need to feel better about myself but I don't see any way out of this situation except asking for another miracle... and like I said asking for another miracle feels selfish so I don't even ask God for any more because what he's done for me already is more than I should have gotten... My goal is to be a landlord again... I was good at it!!! I enjoyed it!!! I tell my son all the time... if I could get my hands on one million dollars free and clear I would buy 3-4 apartment buildings with all of the money all at once and get started building my career off of the rental income... I would be right back where I was before this all started... At the current rate it will take me decades (if at all) to get back to where I was if I don't get help... there is just too much to overcome... my credit is at rock bottom... I still have debt of almost $100,000.00 and I cant afford bankruptcy fees to get rid of it... I have no hope of finding a good job due to my mistake... I have no money for continuing education and already outstanding student loans and criminal history that prevent me from obtaining any assistance... My son and I live in homeless shelters... and I have next to no income... I need help.... I want to give my son hope for a good life and I can't without the miracle I can't ask God for... If there is anyone out there that can get me right back in the game...right back to where I was...I will pay it back or even pay it forward to someone else that needs it... Just contact me any time to talk it over...qmco@hotmail.com...

My name is Jeremi. I'm a single father to a 9 year old boy...Justin... I am trying to be the parent I was never given... I teach him and I show him love... but I want to show him more than the inside of homeless shelters. Please read my story...

As a teen I partied, did drugs, and had a great time mainly because I had absent parents that didn't care what i did and no one to give me direction...I had spent time homeless as a teen and had nothing... I myself turned everything around starting the day my son was conceived because I was determined to be a good father, and by 25 I owned a few apartment buildings, I no longer partied because I had a son and I vowed that I would be the parent I never had so he can have a bright future... I was financially stable and good with money... everyone saw me moving up from nothing... I felt proud of where I had taken my life... 3 years later in the spring of one year I got injured at work by crushing my leg with a fork truck which put me out of work... That following summer while I was still healing my sons mother passed away at 23 from a heart condition... Then in the winter of that same year my most profitable apartment building burned to the ground... All of this happened in one year!!!! I could have weathered any one of these events and recovered fairly quickly but not all of that at once...I lost 90% of my income and with what I made I could not afford the credit and mortgages I had outstanding... I was getting creditor threats constantly and I was going to lose what I had left to repossession and seizure... I knew some people that made money selling drugs and I made the stupid decision to give it a try... I was panicking and it was a last resort... I figured I could get in, make enough money to get back on track, and get out quick!!... unfortunately i was not a very good drug dealer... I got caught a matter of weeks after starting... The police raided my house... my son was only 3-4 at the time and was there for the whole thing... I was devastated... I was charged with trafficking cocaine in a school zone on top of a bunch of other charges they throw in for good measure... I couldn't afford bail and sat in jail for the LONGEST 6 months of my life...and social services took my son and told me I was never going to see him again!!!.... while sitting in jail I had no hope as I was looking at 15-25 years in prison minimum and my public defender said i was definitely doing at least the minimum... my life was over and I just wanted to die... while I was in there my sister (the only one in my life that didn't give up on me)sold off what I had left to be able to afford bail and a private attorney... My private attorney was a MIRACLE WORKER!!!! LITERALLY!!!!! The court battle took FFOOOORRREEVER but at the end I got 1 year probation!!!!! That's it!!! from almost a guaranteed 15 years in prison to only 1 year probation... I cant even ask God for a lottery winning after a gift like that... it really was a miracle and to ask for more in my life would be selfish... I didnt think i was going to get to raise my son... by the time I got out of prison he would have been a man... I would have been his biological father but he would be the creation of someone else... My son is all that means anything to me in this life and to lose him would be the end of me... Even after being freed from the possible prison outcome I had lost my son to social services and they weren't going to give him back to me... they fought hard to keep him away from me...I had to fight them legally with literally every penny I had left but in the end I got full custody back... Now I have my son and I am happy and like I said I cant really ask for more because I have overcome some impossible obstacles that I can only attribute to actual miracles because there really is no other explanation... But I have nothing else... My son and I have been living in a family homeless shelter because I can not afford anything... I am unemployed due to having a chronic eye condition called Uveitis... I would still work and I still look for work but even though I didn't go to prison everything I got charged with is still on my record and when I apply for jobs I get declined for all of them because of the criminal background checks... I've been turned down by so many companies that I am losing hope... I don't want to be a failure and I want to be able to raise my son better... I cant bring him up in homeless shelters and I need to feel better about myself but I don't see any way out of this situation except asking for another miracle... and like I said asking for another miracle feels selfish so I don't even ask God for any more because what he's done for me already is more than I should have gotten... My goal is to be a landlord again... I was good at it!!! I enjoyed it!!! I tell my son all the time... if I could get my hands on one million dollars free and clear I would buy 3-4 apartment buildings with all of the money all at once and get started building my career off of the rental income... I would be right back where I was before this all started... At the current rate it will take me decades (if at all) to get back to where I was if I don't get help... there is just too much to overcome... my credit is at rock bottom... I still have debt of almost $100,000.00 and I cant afford bankruptcy fees to get rid of it... I have no hope of finding a good job due to my mistake... I have no money for continuing education and already outstanding student loans and criminal history that prevent me from obtaining any assistance... My son and I live in homeless shelters... and I have next to no income... I need help.... I want to give my son hope for a good life and I can't without the miracle I can't ask God for... If there is anyone out there that can get me right back in the game...right back to where I was...I will pay it back or even pay it forward to someone else that needs it... Just contact me any time to talk it over...qmco@hotmail.com...

My name is Jeremi. I'm a single father to a 9 year old boy...Justin... I am trying to be the parent I was never given... I teach him and I show him love... but I want to show him more than the inside of homeless shelters. Please read my story...

As a teen I partied, did drugs, and had a great time mainly because I had absent parents that didn't care what i did and no one to give me direction...I had spent time homeless as a teen and had nothing... I myself turned everything around starting the day my son was conceived because I was determined to be a good father, and by 25 I owned a few apartment buildings, I no longer partied because I had a son and I vowed that I would be the parent I never had so he can have a bright future... I was financially stable and good with money... everyone saw me moving up from nothing... I felt proud of where I had taken my life... 3 years later in the spring of one year I got injured at work by crushing my leg with a fork truck which put me out of work... That following summer while I was still healing my sons mother passed away at 23 from a heart condition... Then in the winter of that same year my most profitable apartment building burned to the ground... All of this happened in one year!!!! I could have weathered any one of these events and recovered fairly quickly but not all of that at once...I lost 90% of my income and with what I made I could not afford the credit and mortgages I had outstanding... I was getting creditor threats constantly and I was going to lose what I had left to repossession and seizure... I knew some people that made money selling drugs and I made the stupid decision to give it a try... I was panicking and it was a last resort... I figured I could get in, make enough money to get back on track, and get out quick!!... unfortunately i was not a very good drug dealer... I got caught a matter of weeks after starting... The police raided my house... my son was only 3-4 at the time and was there for the whole thing... I was devastated... I was charged with trafficking cocaine in a school zone on top of a bunch of other charges they throw in for good measure... I couldn't afford bail and sat in jail for the LONGEST 6 months of my life...and social services took my son and told me I was never going to see him again!!!.... while sitting in jail I had no hope as I was looking at 15-25 years in prison minimum and my public defender said i was definitely doing at least the minimum... my life was over and I just wanted to die... while I was in there my sister (the only one in my life that didn't give up on me)sold off what I had left to be able to afford bail and a private attorney... My private attorney was a MIRACLE WORKER!!!! LITERALLY!!!!! The court battle took FFOOOORRREEVER but at the end I got 1 year probation!!!!! That's it!!! from almost a guaranteed 15 years in prison to only 1 year probation... I cant even ask God for a lottery winning after a gift like that... it really was a miracle and to ask for more in my life would be selfish... I didnt think i was going to get to raise my son... by the time I got out of prison he would have been a man... I would have been his biological father but he would be the creation of someone else... My son is all that means anything to me in this life and to lose him would be the end of me... Even after being freed from the possible prison outcome I had lost my son to social services and they weren't going to give him back to me... they fought hard to keep him away from me...I had to fight them legally with literally every penny I had left but in the end I got full custody back... Now I have my son and I am happy and like I said I cant really ask for more because I have overcome some impossible obstacles that I can only attribute to actual miracles because there really is no other explanation... But I have nothing else... My son and I have been living in a family homeless shelter because I can not afford anything... I am unemployed due to having a chronic eye condition called Uveitis... I would still work and I still look for work but even though I didn't go to prison everything I got charged with is still on my record and when I apply for jobs I get declined for all of them because of the criminal background checks... I've been turned down by so many companies that I am losing hope... I don't want to be a failure and I want to be able to raise my son better... I cant bring him up in homeless shelters and I need to feel better about myself but I don't see any way out of this situation except asking for another miracle... and like I said asking for another miracle feels selfish so I don't even ask God for any more because what he's done for me already is more than I should have gotten... My goal is to be a landlord again... I was good at it!!! I enjoyed it!!! I tell my son all the time... if I could get my hands on one million dollars free and clear I would buy 3-4 apartment buildings with all of the money all at once and get started building my career off of the rental income... I would be right back where I was before this all started... At the current rate it will take me decades (if at all) to get back to where I was if I don't get help... there is just too much to overcome... my credit is at rock bottom... I still have debt of almost $100,000.00 and I cant afford bankruptcy fees to get rid of it... I have no hope of finding a good job due to my mistake... I have no money for continuing education and already outstanding student loans and criminal history that prevent me from obtaining any assistance... My son and I live in homeless shelters... and I have next to no income... I need help.... I want to give my son hope for a good life and I can't without the miracle I can't ask God for... If there is anyone out there that can get me right back in the game...right back to where I was...I will pay it back or even pay it forward to someone else that needs it... Just contact me any time to talk it over...qmco@hotmail.com...

My name is Jeremi. I'm a single father to a 9 year old boy...Justin... I am trying to be the parent I was never given... I teach him and I show him love... but I want to show him more than the inside of homeless shelters. Please read my story...

As a teen I partied, did drugs, and had a great time mainly because I had absent parents that didn't care what i did and no one to give me direction...I had spent time homeless as a teen and had nothing... I myself turned everything around starting the day my son was conceived because I was determined to be a good father, and by 25 I owned a few apartment buildings, I no longer partied because I had a son and I vowed that I would be the parent I never had so he can have a bright future... I was financially stable and good with money... everyone saw me moving up from nothing... I felt proud of where I had taken my life... 3 years later in the spring of one year I got injured at work by crushing my leg with a fork truck which put me out of work... That following summer while I was still healing my sons mother passed away at 23 from a heart condition... Then in the winter of that same year my most profitable apartment building burned to the ground... All of this happened in one year!!!! I could have weathered any one of these events and recovered fairly quickly but not all of that at once...I lost 90% of my income and with what I made I could not afford the credit and mortgages I had outstanding... I was getting creditor threats constantly and I was going to lose what I had left to repossession and seizure... I knew some people that made money selling drugs and I made the stupid decision to give it a try... I was panicking and it was a last resort... I figured I could get in, make enough money to get back on track, and get out quick!!... unfortunately i was not a very good drug dealer... I got caught a matter of weeks after starting... The police raided my house... my son was only 3-4 at the time and was there for the whole thing... I was devastated... I was charged with trafficking cocaine in a school zone on top of a bunch of other charges they throw in for good measure... I couldn't afford bail and sat in jail for the LONGEST 6 months of my life...and social services took my son and told me I was never going to see him again!!!.... while sitting in jail I had no hope as I was looking at 15-25 years in prison minimum and my public defender said i was definitely doing at least the minimum... my life was over and I just wanted to die... while I was in there my sister (the only one in my life that didn't give up on me)sold off what I had left to be able to afford bail and a private attorney... My private attorney was a MIRACLE WORKER!!!! LITERALLY!!!!! The court battle took FFOOOORRREEVER but at the end I got 1 year probation!!!!! That's it!!! from almost a guaranteed 15 years in prison to only 1 year probation... I cant even ask God for a lottery winning after a gift like that... it really was a miracle and to ask for more in my life would be selfish... I didnt think i was going to get to raise my son... by the time I got out of prison he would have been a man... I would have been his biological father but he would be the creation of someone else... My son is all that means anything to me in this life and to lose him would be the end of me... Even after being freed from the possible prison outcome I had lost my son to social services and they weren't going to give him back to me... they fought hard to keep him away from me...I had to fight them legally with literally every penny I had left but in the end I got full custody back... Now I have my son and I am happy and like I said I cant really ask for more because I have overcome some impossible obstacles that I can only attribute to actual miracles because there really is no other explanation... But I have nothing else... My son and I have been living in a family homeless shelter because I can not afford anything... I am unemployed due to having a chronic eye condition called Uveitis... I would still work and I still look for work but even though I didn't go to prison everything I got charged with is still on my record and when I apply for jobs I get declined for all of them because of the criminal background checks... I've been turned down by so many companies that I am losing hope... I don't want to be a failure and I want to be able to raise my son better... I cant bring him up in homeless shelters and I need to feel better about myself but I don't see any way out of this situation except asking for another miracle... and like I said asking for another miracle feels selfish so I don't even ask God for any more because what he's done for me already is more than I should have gotten... My goal is to be a landlord again... I was good at it!!! I enjoyed it!!! I tell my son all the time... if I could get my hands on one million dollars free and clear I would buy 3-4 apartment buildings with all of the money all at once and get started building my career off of the rental income... I would be right back where I was before this all started... At the current rate it will take me decades (if at all) to get back to where I was if I don't get help... there is just too much to overcome... my credit is at rock bottom... I still have debt of almost $100,000.00 and I cant afford bankruptcy fees to get rid of it... I have no hope of finding a good job due to my mistake... I have no money for continuing education and already outstanding student loans and criminal history that prevent me from obtaining any assistance... My son and I live in homeless shelters... and I have next to no income... I need help.... I want to give my son hope for a good life and I can't without the miracle I can't ask God for... If there is anyone out there that can get me right back in the game...right back to where I was...I will pay it back or even pay it forward to someone else that needs it... Just contact me any time to talk it over...qmco@hotmail.com...

My name is Jeremi. I'm a single father to a 9 year old boy...Justin... I am trying to be the parent I was never given... I teach him and I show him love... but I want to show him more than the inside of homeless shelters. Please read my story...

As a teen I partied, did drugs, and had a great time mainly because I had absent parents that didn't care what i did and no one to give me direction...I had spent time homeless as a teen and had nothing... I myself turned everything around starting the day my son was conceived because I was determined to be a good father, and by 25 I owned a few apartment buildings, I no longer partied because I had a son and I vowed that I would be the parent I never had so he can have a bright future... I was financially stable and good with money... everyone saw me moving up from nothing... I felt proud of where I had taken my life... 3 years later in the spring of one year I got injured at work by crushing my leg with a fork truck which put me out of work... That following summer while I was still healing my sons mother passed away at 23 from a heart condition... Then in the winter of that same year my most profitable apartment building burned to the ground... All of this happened in one year!!!! I could have weathered any one of these events and recovered fairly quickly but not all of that at once...I lost 90% of my income and with what I made I could not afford the credit and mortgages I had outstanding... I was getting creditor threats constantly and I was going to lose what I had left to repossession and seizure... I knew some people that made money selling drugs and I made the stupid decision to give it a try... I was panicking and it was a last resort... I figured I could get in, make enough money to get back on track, and get out quick!!... unfortunately i was not a very good drug dealer... I got caught a matter of weeks after starting... The police raided my house... my son was only 3-4 at the time and was there for the whole thing... I was devastated... I was charged with trafficking cocaine in a school zone on top of a bunch of other charges they throw in for good measure... I couldn't afford bail and sat in jail for the LONGEST 6 months of my life...and social services took my son and told me I was never going to see him again!!!.... while sitting in jail I had no hope as I was looking at 15-25 years in prison minimum and my public defender said i was definitely doing at least the minimum... my life was over and I just wanted to die... while I was in there my sister (the only one in my life that didn't give up on me)sold off what I had left to be able to afford bail and a private attorney... My private attorney was a MIRACLE WORKER!!!! LITERALLY!!!!! The court battle took FFOOOORRREEVER but at the end I got 1 year probation!!!!! That's it!!! from almost a guaranteed 15 years in prison to only 1 year probation... I cant even ask God for a lottery winning after a gift like that... it really was a miracle and to ask for more in my life would be selfish... I didnt think i was going to get to raise my son... by the time I got out of prison he would have been a man... I would have been his biological father but he would be the creation of someone else... My son is all that means anything to me in this life and to lose him would be the end of me... Even after being freed from the possible prison outcome I had lost my son to social services and they weren't going to give him back to me... they fought hard to keep him away from me...I had to fight them legally with literally every penny I had left but in the end I got full custody back... Now I have my son and I am happy and like I said I cant really ask for more because I have overcome some impossible obstacles that I can only attribute to actual miracles because there really is no other explanation... But I have nothing else... My son and I have been living in a family homeless shelter because I can not afford anything... I am unemployed due to having a chronic eye condition called Uveitis... I would still work and I still look for work but even though I didn't go to prison everything I got charged with is still on my record and when I apply for jobs I get declined for all of them because of the criminal background checks... I've been turned down by so many companies that I am losing hope... I don't want to be a failure and I want to be able to raise my son better... I cant bring him up in homeless shelters and I need to feel better about myself but I don't see any way out of this situation except asking for another miracle... and like I said asking for another miracle feels selfish so I don't even ask God for any more because what he's done for me already is more than I should have gotten... My goal is to be a landlord again... I was good at it!!! I enjoyed it!!! I tell my son all the time... if I could get my hands on one million dollars free and clear I would buy 3-4 apartment buildings with all of the money all at once and get started building my career off of the rental income... I would be right back where I was before this all started... At the current rate it will take me decades (if at all) to get back to where I was if I don't get help... there is just too much to overcome... my credit is at rock bottom... I still have debt of almost $100,000.00 and I cant afford bankruptcy fees to get rid of it... I have no hope of finding a good job due to my mistake... I have no money for continuing education and already outstanding student loans and criminal history that prevent me from obtaining any assistance... My son and I live in homeless shelters... and I have next to no income... I need help.... I want to give my son hope for a good life and I can't without the miracle I can't ask God for... If there is anyone out there that can get me right back in the game...right back to where I was...I will pay it back or even pay it forward to someone else that needs it... Just contact me any time to talk it over...qmco@hotmail.com...

My name is Jeremi. I'm a single father to a 9 year old boy...Justin... I am trying to be the parent I was never given... I teach him and I show him love... but I want to show him more than the inside of homeless shelters. Please read my story...

As a teen I partied, did drugs, and had a great time mainly because I had absent parents that didn't care what i did and no one to give me direction...I had spent time homeless as a teen and had nothing... I myself turned everything around starting the day my son was conceived because I was determined to be a good father, and by 25 I owned a few apartment buildings, I no longer partied because I had a son and I vowed that I would be the parent I never had so he can have a bright future... I was financially stable and good with money... everyone saw me moving up from nothing... I felt proud of where I had taken my life... 3 years later in the spring of one year I got injured at work by crushing my leg with a fork truck which put me out of work... That following summer while I was still healing my sons mother passed away at 23 from a heart condition... Then in the winter of that same year my most profitable apartment building burned to the ground... All of this happened in one year!!!! I could have weathered any one of these events and recovered fairly quickly but not all of that at once...I lost 90% of my income and with what I made I could not afford the credit and mortgages I had outstanding... I was getting creditor threats constantly and I was going to lose what I had left to repossession and seizure... I knew some people that made money selling drugs and I made the stupid decision to give it a try... I was panicking and it was a last resort... I figured I could get in, make enough money to get back on track, and get out quick!!... unfortunately i was not a very good drug dealer... I got caught a matter of weeks after starting... The police raided my house... my son was only 3-4 at the time and was there for the whole thing... I was devastated... I was charged with trafficking cocaine in a school zone on top of a bunch of other charges they throw in for good measure... I couldn't afford bail and sat in jail for the LONGEST 6 months of my life...and social services took my son and told me I was never going to see him again!!!.... while sitting in jail I had no hope as I was looking at 15-25 years in prison minimum and my public defender said i was definitely doing at least the minimum... my life was over and I just wanted to die... while I was in there my sister (the only one in my life that didn't give up on me)sold off what I had left to be able to afford bail and a private attorney... My private attorney was a MIRACLE WORKER!!!! LITERALLY!!!!! The court battle took FFOOOORRREEVER but at the end I got 1 year probation!!!!! That's it!!! from almost a guaranteed 15 years in prison to only 1 year probation... I cant even ask God for a lottery winning after a gift like that... it really was a miracle and to ask for more in my life would be selfish... I didnt think i was going to get to raise my son... by the time I got out of prison he would have been a man... I would have been his biological father but he would be the creation of someone else... My son is all that means anything to me in this life and to lose him would be the end of me... Even after being freed from the possible prison outcome I had lost my son to social services and they weren't going to give him back to me... they fought hard to keep him away from me...I had to fight them legally with literally every penny I had left but in the end I got full custody back... Now I have my son and I am happy and like I said I cant really ask for more because I have overcome some impossible obstacles that I can only attribute to actual miracles because there really is no other explanation... But I have nothing else... My son and I have been living in a family homeless shelter because I can not afford anything... I am unemployed due to having a chronic eye condition called Uveitis... I would still work and I still look for work but even though I didn't go to prison everything I got charged with is still on my record and when I apply for jobs I get declined for all of them because of the criminal background checks... I've been turned down by so many companies that I am losing hope... I don't want to be a failure and I want to be able to raise my son better... I cant bring him up in homeless shelters and I need to feel better about myself but I don't see any way out of this situation except asking for another miracle... and like I said asking for another miracle feels selfish so I don't even ask God for any more because what he's done for me already is more than I should have gotten... My goal is to be a landlord again... I was good at it!!! I enjoyed it!!! I tell my son all the time... if I could get my hands on one million dollars free and clear I would buy 3-4 apartment buildings with all of the money all at once and get started building my career off of the rental income... I would be right back where I was before this all started... At the current rate it will take me decades (if at all) to get back to where I was if I don't get help... there is just too much to overcome... my credit is at rock bottom... I still have debt of almost $100,000.00 and I cant afford bankruptcy fees to get rid of it... I have no hope of finding a good job due to my mistake... I have no money for continuing education and already outstanding student loans and criminal history that prevent me from obtaining any assistance... My son and I live in homeless shelters... and I have next to no income... I need help.... I want to give my son hope for a good life and I can't without the miracle I can't ask God for... If there is anyone out there that can get me right back in the game...right back to where I was...I will pay it back or even pay it forward to someone else that needs it... Just contact me any time to talk it over...qmco@hotmail.com...

My name is Jeremi. I'm a single father to a 9 year old boy...Justin... I am trying to be the parent I was never given... I teach him and I show him love... but I want to show him more than the inside of homeless shelters. Please read my story...

As a teen I partied, did drugs, and had a great time mainly because I had absent parents that didn't care what i did and no one to give me direction...I had spent time homeless as a teen and had nothing... I myself turned everything around starting the day my son was conceived because I was determined to be a good father, and by 25 I owned a few apartment buildings, I no longer partied because I had a son and I vowed that I would be the parent I never had so he can have a bright future... I was financially stable and good with money... everyone saw me moving up from nothing... I felt proud of where I had taken my life... 3 years later in the spring of one year I got injured at work by crushing my leg with a fork truck which put me out of work... That following summer while I was still healing my sons mother passed away at 23 from a heart condition... Then in the winter of that same year my most profitable apartment building burned to the ground... All of this happened in one year!!!! I could have weathered any one of these events and recovered fairly quickly but not all of that at once...I lost 90% of my income and with what I made I could not afford the credit and mortgages I had outstanding... I was getting creditor threats constantly and I was going to lose what I had left to repossession and seizure... I knew some people that made money selling drugs and I made the stupid decision to give it a try... I was panicking and it was a last resort... I figured I could get in, make enough money to get back on track, and get out quick!!... unfortunately i was not a very good drug dealer... I got caught a matter of weeks after starting... The police raided my house... my son was only 3-4 at the time and was there for the whole thing... I was devastated... I was charged with trafficking cocaine in a school zone on top of a bunch of other charges they throw in for good measure... I couldn't afford bail and sat in jail for the LONGEST 6 months of my life...and social services took my son and told me I was never going to see him again!!!.... while sitting in jail I had no hope as I was looking at 15-25 years in prison minimum and my public defender said i was definitely doing at least the minimum... my life was over and I just wanted to die... while I was in there my sister (the only one in my life that didn't give up on me)sold off what I had left to be able to afford bail and a private attorney... My private attorney was a MIRACLE WORKER!!!! LITERALLY!!!!! The court battle took FFOOOORRREEVER but at the end I got 1 year probation!!!!! That's it!!! from almost a guaranteed 15 years in prison to only 1 year probation... I cant even ask God for a lottery winning after a gift like that... it really was a miracle and to ask for more in my life would be selfish... I didnt think i was going to get to raise my son... by the time I got out of prison he would have been a man... I would have been his biological father but he would be the creation of someone else... My son is all that means anything to me in this life and to lose him would be the end of me... Even after being freed from the possible prison outcome I had lost my son to social services and they weren't going to give him back to me... they fought hard to keep him away from me...I had to fight them legally with literally every penny I had left but in the end I got full custody back... Now I have my son and I am happy and like I said I cant really ask for more because I have overcome some impossible obstacles that I can only attribute to actual miracles because there really is no other explanation... But I have nothing else... My son and I have been living in a family homeless shelter because I can not afford anything... I am unemployed due to having a chronic eye condition called Uveitis... I would still work and I still look for work but even though I didn't go to prison everything I got charged with is still on my record and when I apply for jobs I get declined for all of them because of the criminal background checks... I've been turned down by so many companies that I am losing hope... I don't want to be a failure and I want to be able to raise my son better... I cant bring him up in homeless shelters and I need to feel better about myself but I don't see any way out of this situation except asking for another miracle... and like I said asking for another miracle feels selfish so I don't even ask God for any more because what he's done for me already is more than I should have gotten... My goal is to be a landlord again... I was good at it!!! I enjoyed it!!! I tell my son all the time... if I could get my hands on one million dollars free and clear I would buy 3-4 apartment buildings with all of the money all at once and get started building my career off of the rental income... I would be right back where I was before this all started... At the current rate it will take me decades (if at all) to get back to where I was if I don't get help... there is just too much to overcome... my credit is at rock bottom... I still have debt of almost $100,000.00 and I cant afford bankruptcy fees to get rid of it... I have no hope of finding a good job due to my mistake... I have no money for continuing education and already outstanding student loans and criminal history that prevent me from obtaining any assistance... My son and I live in homeless shelters... and I have next to no income... I need help.... I want to give my son hope for a good life and I can't without the miracle I can't ask God for... If there is anyone out there that can get me right back in the game...right back to where I was...I will pay it back or even pay it forward to someone else that needs it... Just contact me any time to talk it over...qmco@hotmail.com...

My name is Ephraim Ntlamo (18) I’m a Zimbabwean national living in Cape- Town. I came to South Africa on my own in 2008 as a political refugee; I didn’t know anybody here. This situation lead me to living on the streets of Cape Town for months, I was very discouraged by my situation of living under the bridge, but never lost the hope that one day I will be in school again.
In fact being far away from home, missing the family together with being homeless at the same time can be very stressful that the temptation of using substances to stay calm can be very high, however because I had a dream to be a educated man one day, I resisted all this and kept on believing in myself that one day I shall overcome all of these obstacles and enroll into school again. The best platform to reconstruct my life towards achieving my childhood dream of becoming an electrical engineer, these experiences have however made me have interest in human rights law, so I will be studying that after high school.

Thanks to well wisher sponsors today I have a place to call home and I’m attending school. Those are big steps towards achieving my goals in life. I recently applied to attend grade 11at Premiere collage and got accepted; Premiere collage is rated among the best private collages schools in Western Cape. The academic pass rate isn’t bad.

The fee’s are [R 15,000] plus the once off registration fee of R1500 I do not have the money however I’m looking for small sponsorships towards my fees

There are various reasons why I want to be student at this school. Firstly, like I mentioned before it’s a great school to get the best education that prepares someone for the world outside there.

In 2009 formed a soccer team of unaccompanied refugee children from all over Africa living here in Cape Town; the purpose of the formation of this team is for educational purposes. The idea is for us refugee children not to isolate ourselves from South Africans; instead we want to be part of the solution to issues like xenophobia, racism, and any sort of discrimination. See www.refugee6foundation.org. Most importantly this refugee team serves to persuade other refugee children to consider education as the only alternative way to success. We also discuss about issues like HIV/AIDS. At this stage the idea had worked very well: Few boys have abandoned their labour jobs in vine yards farms and they are looking forward to starting attending school this year as well.


For me attending Premier Collage I believe will encourage them to believe that nothing is impossible in life and this step will also enable me to persuade as many other refugee children as I can to quit their labour jobs and go back to school. This will help them to be confident and have the realization that everything is possible in life.

Lastly I’m in the middle of writing my book to be about my life experiences, I therefore think that attending this school because of its great diverse culture will help me write a successful book that might change lives of many youth on the way they view the world. See www.childmigrant.wordpress.com
Thank you for considering helping me put together the R 15000 together!

Ephraim Ntlamo
ntamukevx@gmail.com or +27837148014

My name is Ephraim Ntlamo (18) I’m a Zimbabwean national living in Cape- Town. I came to South Africa on my own in 2008 as a political refugee; I didn’t know anybody here. This situation lead me to living on the streets of Cape Town for months, I was very discouraged by my situation of living under the bridge, but never lost the hope that one day I will be in school again.
In fact being far away from home, missing the family together with being homeless at the same time can be very stressful that the temptation of using substances to stay calm can be very high, however because I had a dream to be a educated man one day, I resisted all this and kept on believing in myself that one day I shall overcome all of these obstacles and enroll into school again. The best platform to reconstruct my life towards achieving my childhood dream of becoming an electrical engineer, these experiences have however made me have interest in human rights law, so I will be studying that after high school.

Thanks to well wisher sponsors today I have a place to call home and I’m attending school. Those are big steps towards achieving my goals in life. I recently applied to attend grade 11at Premiere collage and got accepted; Premiere collage is rated among the best private collages schools in Western Cape. The academic pass rate isn’t bad.

The fee’s are [R 15,000] plus the once off registration fee of R1500 I do not have the money however I’m looking for small sponsorships towards my fees

There are various reasons why I want to be student at this school. Firstly, like I mentioned before it’s a great school to get the best education that prepares someone for the world outside there.

In 2009 formed a soccer team of unaccompanied refugee children from all over Africa living here in Cape Town; the purpose of the formation of this team is for educational purposes. The idea is for us refugee children not to isolate ourselves from South Africans; instead we want to be part of the solution to issues like xenophobia, racism, and any sort of discrimination. See www.refugee6foundation.org. Most importantly this refugee team serves to persuade other refugee children to consider education as the only alternative way to success. We also discuss about issues like HIV/AIDS. At this stage the idea had worked very well: Few boys have abandoned their labour jobs in vine yards farms and they are looking forward to starting attending school this year as well.


For me attending Premier Collage I believe will encourage them to believe that nothing is impossible in life and this step will also enable me to persuade as many other refugee children as I can to quit their labour jobs and go back to school. This will help them to be confident and have the realization that everything is possible in life.

Lastly I’m in the middle of writing my book to be about my life experiences, I therefore think that attending this school because of its great diverse culture will help me write a successful book that might change lives of many youth on the way they view the world. See www.childmigrant.wordpress.com
Thank you for considering helping me put together the R 15000 together!

Ephraim Ntlamo
ntamukevx@gmail.com or +27837148014