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I don’t know. My name is Keith Birmingham. I am 73 years old. I was an over-the-road trucker for 35 years. Trucking is a profession that constantly puts you in positions where you must be self-sufficient because there is no one around to help when you need it. Now, 12 years after retirement for medical reasons and exhaustion, I need help.
What will the money be used for?
I hope to raise $2000 to $2,500 thru this fundraiser. It will cost $280 to rent a U-haul trailer to tow what I have in Oklahoma out to Boulder City, NV. I will then need to drop back down to Bullhead City, AZ. to get my household goods out of storage there. That is if I get a call from the Boulder City, Nevada senior apartment complex. I have been on their waiting list for an apartment for a total of over 4 years now. If I can raise enough money by the time they call I will pack what I have in my van and head west. I may have two other options if I do not get the call from Boulder City, NV. (1.) My son may soon be moving to Phoenix, AZ. Since I am currently staying at his residence, that will leave me homeless in Oklahoma. There is a possibility that I will go there with him to wait for a call from Boulder City, NV. But, (2.) if push comes to shove, I will find a place in Oklahoma to live. I will need a place soon.
There will be other moving expenses that can only be estimated, such as gas ($500), food ($100), and lodging ($300) while traveling. I will need to pay a deposit ($535) on my new apartment. And, I will probably need to pay utility hookup fees. That will leave about $500 to $700 for surprise fees that no one counts on while moving.
So, what has happened to put me in this situation?
In Nov. of 2019, I was on a waiting list in Boulder City, NV. for an apartment in a low-income, senior citizen apartment complex. Of course, a week after I returned to Oklahoma I got the call from Boulder City. I turned down the apartment. I moved back from Las Vegas to care for an ailing sister who passed away on October 17, 2020. At that time I called the Boulder City complex and got back on their waiting list. I tried to move back to Nevada to find a place to live while waiting for Boulder City to call me again. Basically, due to the pandemic Las Vegas housing is in chaos, and after 3 failed attempts to move back to Nevada, I am homeless, either living in my van or bouncing around between relatives to have a place to stay. This needs to end ASAP.
And, on my 73rd birthday, January 22, 2022, the motor blew up in my only transportation, a 2002 Ford E-150 van, It wound up costing over $7,000 to put a new motor in it. Because I really had no other options I now owe $10,272 dollars on a 20-year-old van. But, And, it took around 3 months to get it done. I do have transportation. And, while working on that, on February 19th I had an operation on my (retina) left eye. I am still in the final stages of recovery from the operation. And, I hope finally, my van was severely damaged on June 16th when I was rear
This GoFundMe is actually a continuation of a mostly failed GoFundMe from back in February of this year. I believe the reason it failed was mostly my fault in that I did not take the time to learn what to do or how to work with it, and everything about my situation was in turmoil. And, because of the things that have happened in my life since January 22, 2022, I am still in a predicament. However, thanks to a total of $540 donated to me by friends and relatives thru my first GoFundMe, I was at least able to keep going and try to figure things out. Now, I want to try again.
Back to Work
My eye doctor has partially released me to go back to work. I believe my final appointment at the eye clinic is in early August. However, I am now going through the Veterans Administration to get a vision test and new glasses. That is supposed to happen in the next two weeks. Once that is done I plan to try to get my CDL-A back and try to return to driving a truck. That will put a roof over my head and pay the bills that I have accumulated since January. My Soc. Sec. check has been sufficient to pay my way for the past 12 years and should still be good enough if I cannot return to the trucking industry. However, I hope to find other employment if I am unable to get my CDL back for medical reasons.
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