Helps Us Get An Apartment

Hi! We’re tripp and Everest. We are two struggling gender non conforming people who have not had any time to rest, and we desperately need your help.

Everest and I have never had an opportunity to settle. Our home life wasn’t great growing up. I moved around frequently and I have parents who don’t respect my gender identity. Ev has a narcissistic mother and an unsupportive family that they haven’t talked to in over a year. I was emancipated from my family when I was 16, and Ev moved out and was couch surfing at 18, during our senior year of high school.

We got our own apartment our senior year, and struggled to pay rent due to flakey roommates. We both dropped out to be able to work. We kept afloat for a little more than a year, but toward the end (when COVID had begun) Ev and I were unemployed— I was fired for posting anti-racist content on my facebook, and then I couldn’t get a new job because my eczema was flaring up to the point of being house ridden. We couldn’t find other jobs, both of our roommates moved out without notice at the same time, and our lease was up.

We decided to sell all of our stuff and fly to Puerto Rico, where we would WWOOF (an international farm work program— we would trade our work for food and lodgings), Unfortunately, we missed our flight and got stuck in Boston, so we used the rest of our money to take a bus and stay with my parents— my mother insisted, because they were the closest relatives we had. This was a mistake.

When getting there everything was fine for a second, then we stayed with one of my old friends for a few months. That also fell through after I lost my job— my employers wouldn’t accommodate my eczema, and were asking me to touch things that were actively making me break out more. We went back to my parents’ for the holidays to get our hormones and my skin figured out, but by the spring my abusive father forced us out of the home physically with only our socks on— no phones or wallets. we immediately filed restraining orders against my father while staying at a local super 8. my father also stole our testosterone prescription, which caused my eczema and ev’s acne to flair up very badly, not to mention the dysphoria of being forced to detransition.

With the help of a family friend we were able to move into a community apartment in D.C. (kind of like dorms), but it turned out that the apartment complex was a scam, and not at all what they had advertised. I had a job for about two weeks, but I quit because I was being sexually harassed by one of the much older managers. we were doing Uber deliveries by foot to make enough for mcdonald’s meals, sometimes over six hours for one meal.

about five months later We were invited back to our home town by the same family friend who helped us get into the DC apartment, with the invitation being that we would come back to get our mental and physical health on track with more support. We said yes because we needed someplace stable. We took a train all the way there.

It was really good when we first got there. Ev had an amazing job at a local bookstore, and Our skin was getting better because we got our hormones. When winter came around we had to leave, because ev was severely disrespected by the adults we were staying with.

There was a very large argument about their dog, and that we had plans to train her. she was reactive, and had bitten me twice on walks in front of other dogs. They also demanded that we allow them into our space (like our bedroom bathroom) and that just made us super uncomfortable, on top of a lot of passive aggression about me also needing a job.

It was the beginning of january, so we decided to use the last of the money ev had saved to buy backpacking gear and move to Puerto Rico. we could not be homeless in the middle of a maine winter.

We backpacked a bit, and then stayed on a beach in Luquillo for four months, barely getting by. My mom was helping us get food now and then, but we were eating a lot of rice and chef boyardee.

about a month ago a kitten came screaming out at us and followed us over a mile to our camp, so obviously We kept him— as if he gave us a choice. his name is Jackie, we think he’s about four months old (:

ev got their tax return in april, which we used to get better food. we planned to get an apartment, but after being denied for every one or not responded to, we finally we decided to get an Airbnb because we were feeling unsafe— a man was following us to our campsite and masturbating to us in the woods. we caught him more than three times.

We moved Into an Airbnb for the month of May, but had to move out on the 31st. We got enough money from donations to get another Airbnb for 10 days, but we are going to have to move out of that rental in just 2 days. We only have $60, and have no possible way of getting jobs as we are in a completely new place and do not speak Spanish. All of the jobs that we have applied for me have been denied or just have not been responded to.

i started a Personal Training Certification Program with a job guarantee in the next four weeks, but by the middle of next month we will need $80 to continue, which is a reoccurring payment for 10 more months.

Even if Ev were to get a job right now, it would be too late, as theyd would have to wait 2 weeks to a month to get their first paycheck. we also have no clothes, and ev’s only pair of shoes are a broken pair of sandals, so they couldn’t work in any food environment. We only have $60, we are running out of time to feed ourselves, to find shelter, and to provide a good life for our cat and ourselves. we are in an extremely vulnerable position, and we can’t do this ourselves anymore. we’re trying our hardest to begin stable lives, but we need help.

Your donations will help us buy more time, and keep us off the streets. Here are some things that your donations would be providing for us:

• airbnb/hotel/apartment
• Food
• Toiletries (lotion, soap, toilet paper)
• Clothes to work in (black pants, non slip shoes)
• Cat food and cat litter
• Money for tripps Personal Training Certificate Program ($80/month)
• Either money for a cheap health care plan here in PR, or plane tickets back to Maine so we can use our Maine Health Insurance

We can’t explain well enough how vulnerable we are, and how much we need your help. If you could donate whatever you can, you would be saving three lives. Thank you all so much, if you have questions please feel free to reach out to us.