...This fall, Michaela is donating 50 discounted (to encourage participation!) session hours of any service at $100/hour, with all $5,000 going to a community fund organized by I Am Me Mentors Cooperative for Looms of Liberation Community House (LOL), a house for those with intersecting marginalized identities. This community fund will support asylum seekers and trans community members of color as they seek stable housing, medical and legal aid! All I Am Me Mentors Cooperative Community Donation Drive proceeds will offer a matching fund for LOL's crowdfunding campaign that will double your contribution! ...
To participate: Paypal loomsofliberation@gmail.com $100 x # session-hours desired and make sure to choose "friends and family" at checkout! Schedule your sessions through Michaela's scheduling link and write "Community Donation Drive" in the notes!
**We encourage you to send an optional additional donation of any amount along with your session purchases, but please specify in the notes [Community Donation Drive – # hours + – additional donation].**
Seniors will get priority scheduling any amount of these donated hours into Michaela’s Fall 2022 Term availability and non-seniors can use4 max donated hours per term (Fall/Spring/Summer), expiring 12/31/2023.
Students must be registered with a package and use their Community Donation Drive hours as additional sessions!
Recipient One: Sylvia Overview Sylvia – the mother of a resident of Looms of Liberation Community House who lived with them for the summer – is an asylum seeker who also has breast cancer. Under threat of violence that had already caused the death of one of her other children, near death of another, and has caused her to fear for her own life, Sylvia fled her home country of Jamaica and endured an arduous journey through Mexico, arriving in the U.S. in June 2022. While she has come so far already, she still faces the personal and financial challenges of needing life-saving surgery for her cancer, securing stable housing as she searches for work, and navigating legal processes as a new arrival to this country. Sylvia and her family have determined that $6,000 in direct aid would make a significant difference in being able to meet these essential needs. More details Sylvia is a 51-year-old mother of 3 who loves cooking, watching movies and taking walks by the water. She is from Kingston, Jamaica and speaks Jamaican Patois and English. She has endured immense challenges supporting her children, who have collectively faced severe cognitive impairment and violent hate crimes. 3 years ago, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, atop a myriad of health concerns, and has suffered chronic health issues as a result. She has been actively waiting for surgery since January 2022, and not knowing whether she could get to the U.S. and afford it has taken a strong toll on her mental health. She is extremely relieved to finally have made it to the U.S. after a terrifying and long journey through Mexico, but has been faced with all the compounding challenges of a newcomer: housing instability, legal battles and difficulty navigating all the red tape, especially as a non-Spanish-speaking immigrant. In September, Sylvia got a travel approval and left Denver for Florida, following a housing lead that quickly became unsafe. She is now in North Carolina working well under minimum wage for a hotel and isn't able to save enough for her fair back before her travel extension expires. Our first priority will be paying for her fair back to Colorado and covering basic needs as she works towards her goals of finding safe housing, a job in house cleaning or cooking, and eventually after her surgery, launching a catering business.
