I am starting this thread so that those who wish to help set up a Kickstarter or GoFundMe for Riley McCool of "How to be Homeless", "A Little More Humiliation", and "Habibahs song" can work on the details of setting this up.
Start publishing on
DD Comics!
Advertise with us
Networking & Community Projects*
Helping Riley McCool
I'll chip in for the GoFundMe if someone else is willing to set it up. Could we maybe have Riley set it up, so we're sure she's the one who gets all the money? I'm also not sure what percentage GoFundMe takes from the total.
I think overall we're aiming for about $1000 for the truck loan and maybe $2000 for the apartment costs (first and last month's rent plus security deposit). I'm not sure what the housing prices are like in Sandpoint; I figure she won't need a fancy place but we want something in a low-crime area that's not rat-infested or full of drug dealers at least. A little extra to help her with the utility bills until she can land a full-time job wouldn't hurt either. And once she has a permanent mailing address, she can start receiving housing subsidies, food stamps, etc. that her taxes and our taxes are designed to pay for.
I definitely would prefer GoFundMe since it does not require any specific deadline.
In an ideal world, Riley would set up the GoFundMe account and we would all just plunk down our money into until we reach the goal. However, as you may have noticed, Riley barely has any time to be online with her limited access to wifi, and so unless Riley is willing to use some of her online time to do so, it will have to be one of us that sets up the account. Either way, she still will need to give up some of her time online to work out the particulars so that she can collect the money.
As for the goal, CoastMountainGoat and I worked out that we would need at least $2300 to $2500 to pay off the truck principle. And that should be the first goal, no matter what, as that is consuming the most of what Riley and her son make in any given month. On top of that, paying for repairs to the truck is the next major concern and that could be easily around another $1000. We also should consider adding in the costs of a cheap motel they can stay in while waiting for the truck to be repaired.
As for an apartment, there are some decent possibilities that MMarmmel and
I found that are in the McCools' price range once the truck issues are settled:
http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_rent/Sandpoint-ID/condo,apartment_duplex_type/6929_rid/48.941445,-115.543213,47.832517,-117.303772_rect/8_zm/
As you can see, $482/mo is well under the $560 that Riley has to pay on the truck and that would allow us to set a goal I believe of about $1500 to help raise the money for deposit and 3 months rent required.
refalgren wrote:
I mentioned a gofundme campaign to her a couple months ago, but Riley didn't say much about the idea. If one gets set up, i'll happily contribute.
Her being online enough to set up the details makes it difficult, but luckily GoFundMe accounts can be set up by someone on behalf of someone else. The trick is, who will do it and then make sure the money raised goes to the McCools.
Ugh, I thought the truck principle was only $1000 or so, $2500 is much worse(considering that she has to pay off 1/4 of the loan balance every month just to break even). Paying that off ASAP is the best thing we could do for Riley and her son.
Is anyone willing to volunteer and set up the GoFundMe?
Something I've been thinking about: I'd like to pay off Riley's 300% interest loan and replace it with an informal 0% interest loan to me. She could send me maybe $100 a month until it's all paid off, instead of her much higher monthly payment to the loan company. But I don't know if she has a checking account (it's too much money to send through the mail) and whether I can be sure that the loan company will properly credit my payment to writing off her debt. Any thoughts?
Thank you for your interest, Varg. We have two nominees right now to set up the GoFundeMe:
1.) Me, Nowhereman
2.) CoastMountainGoat.
While I organized and helped gain publicity for Riley and her son's plight, CoastMountainGoat has the experience with fiance as a credit union employee.
felonimayhem wrote:
Something I've been thinking about: I'd like to pay off Riley's 300% interest loan and replace it with an informal 0% interest loan to me. She could send me maybe $100 a month until it's all paid off, instead of her much higher monthly payment to the loan company. But I don't know if she has a checking account (it's too much money to send through the mail) and whether I can be sure that the loan company will properly credit my payment to writing off her debt. Any thoughts?
Now that is an interesting idea. What does everyone think?
Right now she's paying $500 a month (3/4 of her net income!) and only $50 or so is going toward the principal. If I send her a lump sum to pay that off, she can pay me back at $100 a month until it's all paid off, so she'll have an extra $400 spending power every month, which is a huge amount of money for her. No-interest loans are a very good compromise between charity and responsibility; Habitat for Humanity and other charitable organizations use them a lot. I'm perfectly willing to take the small risk that she won't be able to pay me back. I just need some way to get the money to her safely. I'm not sure if she has a checking account.
Oh, I meant that if we stuck to the current plan, what you'd be willing to put into the GoFundMe.
That being said, you gave me an idea as an alternative. What do and everyone else think if Felonimayhem here pays off the loan and then instead of Riley paying Feloni back a 100 bucks a month, we all instead pay Feloni the money and that in turn would allow Riley and her son to concentrate their monthly income into truck repairs and getting an apartment, preferably before Summer is out and before Fall and Winter.
Nah, I don't need a fundraiser, I'm financially secure. If you're starting a GoFundMe, send the money to her instead of me. Send it to her with no strings attached, to be spent as she best sees fit. She's excellent at budgeting her expenses, probably more so than any of us would be.
Regarding paying off the loan, I'm sure she'd be very happy to go from a $500 monthly payment indefinitely to $100 a month for a little over a year. Her available spending money per month would double or triple.
Advertise with us
DDComics is community owned.
The following patrons help keep the lights on. You can support DDComics on Patreon.
- Banes
- JustNoPoint
- RMccool
- Abt_Nihil
- Gunwallace
- cresc
- PaulEberhardt
- Emma_Clare
- FunctionCreep
- SinJinsoku
- Smkinoshita
- jerrie
- Chickfighter
- Andreas_Helixfinger
- Tantz_Aerine
- Genejoke
- Davey Do
- Gullas
- Roma
- NanoCritters
- Teh Andeh
- Peipei
- Digital_Genesis
- Hushicho
- Palouka
- Cheeko
- Paneltastic
- L.C.Stein
- Zombienomicon
- Dpat57
- Bravo1102
- TheJagged
- LoliGen
- OrcGirl
- Fallopiancrusader
- Arborcides
- ChipperChartreuse
- Mogtrost
- InkyMoondrop
- jgib99
- Call me tom
- OrGiveMeDeath_Ind
- Mks_monsters
- GregJ
- HawkandFloAdventures
- Soushiyo