Help My Family Pay Bills! (Financial Trouble)

Hello! Firstly, thank you to everyone who has supported me thus far! And thank you for clicking and reading!

I'm Ray, a 19 year old trans man whose family is having a lot of financial trouble. I am currently unable to work due to medical issues (I have five diagnosed spinal disorders, as well as other medical issues, such as fibromyalgia and hypothyroidism).

I've recently begun the process of applying for disability benefits. As of writing this I'm working on obtaining medical records from my doctors so I can apply. However, I don't know when and if I'll be approved, or if I'll have to appeal, which will take even longer.

I don't want my family to give up or lose everything, so I'm setting up donations to help us pay bills, buy food, and survive.

Pictures shown are of me and my family, as well as my artwork if you plan on getting a reward!

Why are you asking for donations?

For a short answer, our financial situation has been getting significantly worse this year. We're struggling to pay the bills month by month. To make it worse, yesterday (9/18/2019) my mom's car got repossessed. My brother's was repossessed a month ago, so we have no car. Now we're relying on Lyft to take my mom, stepdad, and brother to work.

I want to be able to help before things get even worse, but I can't work. I worked at my mom and stepdad's restaurant earlier this year as a busboy, but my chronic back pain from my spinal disorders makes it far too difficult for me. Besides, that's also just me getting paid by my mom, who is barely paying the bills.

For a longer answer and rundown on my situation:

• My dad passed away in 2015 from terminal brain cancer (known as glioblastoma multiforme back then, now mostly known as just glioblastoma). He was the breadwinner of the family, and we were financially fine up until he got sick and passed away. We will always miss him dearly.
• My stepdad came into the picture and eventually opened a restaurant with my mom in October 2018. It was a huge investment, and now my family is dependent on the success of the restaurant. We've been building up business, but house and real estate bills are pretty expensive where I live in Texas.
• In January 2019, we had to sell the house I grew up in so that we could get money to continue paying bills and buy food. We moved into a nearby house that was much smaller.
• In July 2019, our landlord began the eviction process on us because we were $45 short on rent that was nearly $2,000 a month. Even with that little money short, he won, and we got evicted in early August. We now live in a very small two bedroom apartment for the four of us. Also, the first day we started moving, we woke up to see my brother's car got repossessed since my mom was late on the car payment with not enough money for it.
• Yesterday on September 18^th, our only other car got repossessed. My mom was late on paying since she prioritizes paying for shelter, food, and the rental on the property for the restaurant so we can make money there.

It's been downhill ever since I lost my dad, but I don't want to give up. I know my mom would never give up either, and she's busy working around 15 hours daily to make what money she can to support our family. I want to help her too, and help my family make it through these hardships and whatever life throws at us next.

How will the donations be spent?

There's plenty of stuff it'll help me and my family pay for!

Smaller donations (less than $100) can help with:

• Buying food
• Internet and phone bills
• Medical expenses
• Lyft rides while we don't have a car

Larger donations ($100+) can help with:

• Apartment and restaurant rent
• Debt towards previous cars
• Saving up for a car

And overall, every donation helps keep us going, even just $1 donations help!

Do I get anything in return for donating?

Yes, depending on how much you donate! The tiers are listed on the side. I'm best at drawings humans and human-looking (elf, android, etc.) characters.

Since these are drawn for donations, there will be no revisions. If you'd like a regular commission, see my art Twitter account, @ iwstwart !

Leave a comment or message me on Twitter with who you'd like me to draw! I'll email the art to you, but if I'm unable to, then I'll post it on Twitter!

Please note that depending on my current art commission workload, it could take a few days to a couple weeks to get the art done. I'll work in order of donations received.

Again, thank you all so much for reading and supporting me and my family! It really means a lot to us! And if you can't donate, we appreciate if you share this page! Thank you!!