Baton Rouge Moving Fund Raiser

Overview

My husband Chad has taken a job working for Jimmy Swaggart Ministries in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, playing rhythm guitar in the worship band and doing audio engineering in the TV Production Department.  They have also offered me a job in the TV Production Department working as a Graphic Designer.  We are thankful and feel very blessed to have been given this opportunity.  

However, as many of you know, I recently graduated from college last December and started working this past March as a designer for a company in Dothan, AL.  We had to move in order for me to take this position as well.  Chad graduated from college in May, and has been unemployed for some time now, leaving our family of four to live off my salary alone.  We've struggled financially for years now, and the past months living paycheck to paycheck with no savings.  We both feel God is blessing us with these opportunities and wants us to go, but we need some help to get there.

How You Can Help

We know that God will provide a way for us and we've had a few people ask how they can help, so we're starting this "Moving Fund Raiser" to give others the opportunity to help us reach our goal.  Our goal is the total amount we need to get to Baton Rouge.  

My last day at work in Dothan is December 6, 2013, so we are making this our deadline, b/c we really need to move as soon as possible after this and would really like to be moved into a new place before Christmas. 

You can help get our family to Baton Rouge by donating to our fundraiser.  Even if you can only give $5, $10 or $15 – that helps!  If you can give more then we ask you to give what you feel lead to give.

Why We Need the Money

a) Pay back a $3000 advance given to me by my current company to sign a two year contract

b) To rent two u-haul trucks with gas expenses, total cost is $1000.  Add gas for two trucks, we're looking at 10mpg on each for 400 miles.  One truck hold 57 gallons.  To fill a tank at $3.15 per gallon for 40 gallons would be $126 per truck with a total of $252.

c) Deposit and first month's rent on new place:  We found the houses comparable in size to what we live in now range from $1300 to $2000 depending on the area.  With a deposit being the same as the first month's rent.  We are adding this total as $4000 to be on the safe side.  

d) We will lose the deposit on our current rental when we break our 12-month lease.  This may require a payout amount.  We are not sure of the amount yet, we are waiting to hear back from the property manager.

e) The girls will be attending a private school on the JSM campus where we work.  We felt this was the best option due to our lack of knowledge on school systems in the area, the crime rate, and the accessablity to our work (they will be across the parking lot from us).  This is not added to the fundraiser amount but is included to demonstrate need.

f) We've had $2500 in car repairs over the last couple months which we had to borrow from family members.  If we don't get the money from this fundraiser to move we will have to take out a loan.  Since we both have been students over the last three years, with no credit, we're not sure how well this option will pan out, but we will do what we can to make it over.  

Why you ask?

Two salaries are better than one.  We need the extra income from Chad's new position to start paying off our student loans starting in January 2014.  While we are scraping pennies now to save to get over, it will be worth it in the long run financially as we are setting another goal to have our students loans paid off in 4 years.  They total $82,000.  This is a lofty goal but we will try our best to put a significant dent in it, if not eliminate it in this timeframe.  

It's the opportunity of a lifetime.  Working for a mega-church like Family Worship Center isn't a job that is just handed to anyone.  We've been praying for jobs in the ministry together, but never thought it would be somewhere this big and in these areas.  The experience we gain here can open so many more doors in the futre.

We are desparate.  We need help.  We are tired of struggling.  It is not easy to admit that – but we do.  We have been faithful in our tithing over the years, even when we didn't have anything we gave our time to church projects, painting murals, the praise team, Bible School, nursery, donated art to charity auctions and played music for community events.  We believe God has blessed us with these experiences.  We are so grateful to those who have help us along the way to get where we are – now we just need one more little push.