I have been watching a few people talk about The Big Sleep Out recently, and think its a brilliant idea. I would have even liked to have done it, only it’s not been financially a great time for us to do much.
Everyone has their ups and downs, and some of us more than others. it sucks to have a down time, and it sucks more if that means you live in the streets.
Anyway, Pauline got sick, very sick. She ended up in hospital , and has Glandular Fever. I subscribe to her youtube posts , and after hearing that she would have to drop out of it, and how upset she was about it, I offered to stand in for her.
My story
I can’t afford much at the moment, We are trying to buy our first house, and had some major bad luck with 2 house deals falling through and lost about $3000, pretty much all our savings, spent on builders reports, LIMs, valuations (required by bank) etc. We can live with that, we finally got it third time around and have a house unconditional (yaaay!). My car then required $750 of work the same week, and the power bill came in at $450 for the month, which along with an expensive shoulder injury was a kick in the teeth this month.
Luckily for us we have 8 weeks before the house settlement date, so should have that sorted by then, however it means money is tight, so tight that i was unable to help my 20 yo son when he rang up one night with no place to stay, no money, and urgently needing help.
He had a spot of bad luck, girlfriend moved out leaving him with an unaffordable rent. A friend let him stay briefly, but he had no way of moving his gear, so the landlord put it in storage for him until he paid the back rent. Soon afterwards he found his student allowance cut off due to him not being able to get to his course during this time, which left him in an even worse spot.
He rang me up , unable to get a Benefit due to not having a birth certificate, unable to get the birth certificate without paying old landlord for storage/back rent and other stuff, no place to stay since he could not pay rent, and i could do nothing. I live nearly 200km away, and i was stone broke already.
Luckily I managed to get a hold of a friend who was able to arrange pickup, and he has been living there for the past couple of weeks free of charge getting things sorted. I owe that friend a HUGE debt, and will indeed repay her when I’m back on my feet, as I am sure my son will.
What can you do?
This is only one story, there are other people out there who need people to stand up and give them a hand. They don’t always have that friend who can help, and some have children.
I am helping the best way i know how, by trying to raise awareness, experience what they do, and raise money. You can help without doing the hard yards sleeping outside in the middle of winter, just pop on over here and donate a few bucks http://bigsleepout.org.nz/author/pauline-stockhausen/
Update: Macy Gray says you should help me! https://twitter.com/MacyGraysLife/status/217507316969390080