Happy Sunday Funday! I have to say, the sun is shining, the temperature is nice…and in general, this is a beautiful day from above! I thought I would take this opportunity to share with you what it is like to #crowdfund for a personal #need. I think that it is important for my friends to know what we are doing to help our family…and show that #crowdfunding is not just about posting links and asking for money.

To begin, I should say that I think crowd funding is AWESOME. I have donated more than a few times to others in personal need, cool projects, and business start-ups over the past couple of years. Since I work from home as an affiliate marketer, Nationwide rep, and advertising rep..my day revolves around seeking out new avenues to attain leads. That is what I do. I spend my days tying to match people with other people(services, products, ect.) In doing so, I often come across cool ideas, lovely people, innovative ideas. This is what my jobs fun. I get to find awesomeness and try to make it even more awesome, by matching them with a service or need that I have available.

The thought of using crowd funding for our own situation had honestly never crossed my mind. Why? I don’t know. You would think that after seeing so many others use crowd funding as a means to an end, I would have thought…Huh Sarah, this could help us rebuild…but it didn’t. In fact, when Jay first presented me with the story he had written, and asked me for my opinion…I was mortified. I vehemently let him know that in NO way were we going to put ourselves out there like that. Our struggles were our own…I was not going to share the embarrassing part of our lives with our friends, with social media. This crowd funding campaign would never come to fruition.

Over the past couple of years, we had looked into loans, government help, grants, USDA development programs, many…many avenues that we just didn’t qualify for because of our income. We either made too much or too little(in most circumstances). Your credit scored are too low, they said. Your income is not enough, they said. You are below the poverty level, but not poor enough, they said. It was a grim reality, that we were never going to be able to fix these huge problems with our home..that just continued to get worse day by day. Over the past couple of years, we watched as the damage for that single wind storm slowly spread…taking out or infecting others parts of our home with mold, collapsed roofing, unstable structures. It is literally crumbing around us, we would say. And still, I was horrified to think about sharing THIS part of our reality with others. Fear can be a crippling. The fear of judgements! I don’t think anyone ever wants to be looked down upon by their friends..by anyone. And I knew after reading what Jay had written, that that was exactly what would happen.

So I took a minute. I took a breath and thought about our options. I thought about what we had already tried, what was left to try, and how we were going to fix our home before it was beyond repair. It was then I had a realization, and the realization was this…Crowd funding works for others, others allow their vulnerability and embrace letting others in to their less than perfect lives…why can’t I? Pride can be an powerful influence. Pride can get in your path and stop you right in your tracks. And so, it was at that moment, that I swallowed that pride, and embraced the idea that maybe, just maybe… with a little support from not only those I know…but from people I don’t know…we could gather enough funds to fix our home. Fast forward to the present and our campaign for “Habitat for Hughes”, catchy right!! 🙂

Understand that everyday that I share my story, talk to others about it, or “promote” our story in any way stills feels like we are “begging” for money. This has to be the hardest part of it all. It is hard to get past that feeling. It is hard to try and share your story day after day in hopes of others feeling your plight and #giving because they, like me, try to #helpothers when possible. I have many personal messages from friends and acquaintances alike with idea on how to “market” our story to help spread the world beyond my social reach. I have received an outpouring of support from our inner circle, and these words of encouragement are what keeps us focused. We have even received some donations towards the repairs that have to be done. In all, this campaign has already been successful it teaching me that it IS okay to ask for help sometimes. We all try to be strong and self-sufficient, and while this is what keeps things in order, sometimes…you have to swallow your pride and say, Please Help. Whether this story helps us to fix our home or not, I think that I will regard this experience as one of the most humbling I have had to date. These types of experiences help me to grow, and for that, I am thankful!

#OperationWarmWinter