Hello, just from reading your post, I want to say "Thank You", this world needs more people like you in it.  I too like to help.  Financially and physically I am unable to do too much, however, if someone needs me I am there.  When a girl in my town lost her life in a car accident, I started a fund for her family and asked the church to collect for her benefit, my daughter and I stayed up one school night till 2 am painting jars so that we could put them into stores.  We only have raised about $380 so far, but every dime will help her family out.  When my habitat house was going thru it's closing paperwork, I had to work on other people's new homes (mine was rehabbed, by myself and family...) the requirement was 500 hours, and I superseeded that by about 250 more hours.  Just because!  So again, Thank you!  Alicia7375

Dear AID,

I am a 31 year old mother to a beautiful 11 year old daughter, named Taziana.  We both suffer disabilities of one sort or another.  We receive SSDI and with our income for 2 people, $1400 per month, we are over qualified for any civic organizations, ie: food stamps, fuel assistance, etc.  Luckily, we do own our home and purchased it thru Habitat for Humanity 3 years ago.  I was enrolled in the Section 8 for homeownership program and they paid my mortgage, but they cancelled my enrollment.  I will go into details later.  I try to find jobs here and there (mystery shopping, direct sales, babysitting, online jobs) to help supplement my income and one that still allows me to be comfortable in my own home with my disabilities causing me so much pain. 

This is where it gets tricky, One year ago, I married, and it isn't exactly what we felt it was going to be like.  We didn't live together before we got married, and there are a lot of things with my child and my disabilty that makes it very hard living with him in his house, (this is why my sec 8 was terminated, and there is a 8 year wait now!) about 35 minutes from my home.  He makes a crappy pay, and hasn't had a raise in the 4 years that he has been there, and doesn't have time off to JOB SEARCH!  His bills are overwhelming too, as he has a tenant pay $500 a month for her 2 BR appt downstairs from us, but we pay ALL of her utilities.  She too is disabled, and needs her house super warm!  We lost so much money last year that we just gave her a notice to move out 1 month ago, because we cannot even afford to heat our own house, never mind paying for prescriptions and buying food.  WE ARE STARVING!  My house is just sitting there in another town, with all of my things in it, and I cannot sell it for 5 years, because of a federal grant that is attached to the house.  Then when I do finally sell, I have to sell it back to Habitat for Humanity, and I will not make any profit on it, and there is a clause that I cannot rent it out.  My electric, cable, phone, and Gas have all been shut off.   With everything on my mind, I forgot that my fridge was full of food and meat!  Well to say the least, there are maggots and blood full in the freezer that it cannot even be opened. 

I am going to leave my husband and need to get back into my OWN home.  However, financially I have all my utilites to repay, and I need a new refrigerator!  My checkbook has gotten so far behind, that I am bouncing checks to buy food for us.  I cannot get a foot forward.  I DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!  We do not have family locally, and have no savings, but the numbers on my check look like we get a fair amount each month, but once the bills are paid out, we are negative.......PLEASE HELP.  I could use any assistance necessary, and would also love to join your AID program.  God Bless, Alicia Litchfield, MA