I'm raising money for Furniture so I can have a safe and suitable apartment.

Why I'm using HandUp for Furniture.

I am a disabled transgender person kindly asking for help with furnishing my apartment. As a person living with HIV, PTSD, and chronic pain it is very hard for me to meet a lot of my everyday needs on my own. I have faced lots of judgement and denial due to my gender identity. Please have compassion for me as a human being who has fell on hard times and needs a helping hand. Any contribution would be helpful and most certainly appreciated.

About me.

I'm from North Carolina, I've been in Detroit/Highland Park since 2010. I'm currently unemployed while fighting for SSDI. I've been denied several times since 2008. I don't have any contact with my family because I am transgender, they have chosen to disown me since I came out and put me in the foster care system as a result. I currently volunteer with the Detroit Health Department putting together safe sex kits for their outreach program.

My backstory.

I was put into the foster care system once my family abandoned me and my little brother in October of 1998. I was in the system until 2008, to which I aged out and then became homeless for 2 years. I relocated to Detroit with hopes of a better way of life and better resources for LGBT people like myself. I was housed by NSO at the NSO Bell building upon their grand opening and transitioned out due to safety reasons. I now live on my own through the shelter plus care program.

My goals, moving forward.

My hopes are to one day open a TLP and an ILP for transgender individuals who have been denied access to housing since being released from foster care and/or their family's household. I am involved with some of the local LGBT organizations to help give ideas and to help train people with cultural competency training that is gender specific.

Other things I'd like to share about myself.

Some of my happiest moments include creating change in the Detroit public school system and Highland Park School's Anti-Bullying policy. The policy change was to include LGBT students as a protected class as well, and that if a student and/or staff where to bully someone who identified as LGBT they would be held accountable.