Ask HN: Who needs help this holidays?

[atdrummond]

I have decided to post this thread a bit earlier this year.

Last year we had an incredible response to a thread offering assistance to those in the HN community. You can read it here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34122118

Last year we were able to provide nearly $20k worth of support to community members. I know things have only gotten more challenging since then for a number of us, so I wanted to make sure I provided more time this year for people to reach out.

As usual, this is not a request for donations. Last year and this year I am content to finance this operation myself (although a number of people did step up and offer additional support). All I ask is that you let us know your financial needs and their general purpose so that we can maximize the number of people we can help.

To be clear, while the original intent was to provide dinner expenses for the holidays, this need not be the only reason you ask for funds. Reasonable requests include:

- Holiday housing

- Toys/gifts for family members

- Food

- Travel assistance

- Medical expenses

- Entertainment for the family

I understand, as a formerly homeless person myself, that it can be tough to ask for help. The majority of those who request assistance do so over email and I assure you that I will keep your request and information private and between us.

I am happy to use this thread for any questions the community and potential beneficiaries may have.

Happy holidays!

- Alexander

[wyclif]

I hesitate to post here because I really don't like talking about my problems and have never written anything like this before.

I'm one of the original members of HN and I've been here for a long time; since week one I think.

I'm an American technologist who has done web dev work in the past, but right now I'm stuck on an island in the Philippines without income or employment, and things are getting pretty desperate since it's this close to Christmas and my wife and I have two young children (my youngest is five). The pantry and coffers are empty at this point. The reason I'm here is because my family are citizens of this country and although I am trying to get the immigration paperwork together to bring them to the States, there's quite a lot of red tape and it's taking a lot longer than I expected.

Until recently I had been working remotely but the company I had been with sold and got folded into a bigger corporation and I was laid off along with our dev team.

My goal is to find an entry level back end or front end role that is remote for now. I am working on my Python-fu and I also have experience with HTML/CSS/JavaScript. I am interested in cloud-based technologies.

Since then I've been sending resumes out and doing interviews, but I'm not getting any response or feedback so far whatsoever... not a single bite. The recent trend of BTO (Back to the office) has been killing my chances, I think. I'm willing to take just about any job, help desk, on call, roles that are APAC time zone-only, anything as long as I can do it from here in the PH.

I know this is a long shot but things are getting pretty desperate for me. My family is basically rationing and we're living very close to the edge of bankruptcy. I would be overwhelmed with gratitude if there was help, but most of all I want to just help myself. I am a hard worker and enthusiastic about work in general, and I have a technical background and have worked in several technical roles in the past. Thank you and happy holidays to whoever reads this!

[m348e912]

If you are comfortable maybe I could take a look at your resume. Not getting ANY response from employers is unusual. Perhaps part of the problem is US/EU companies don't want to hire Philippine residents directly, especially if they don't have a presense there. You might be better off working for a Philippine firm that contracts with US/EU companies.

[gigatexal]

That sucks. I’m sorry you’re in such a bind. Have you considered teaching? It’s not the most lucrative thing in the world but it can be something until something better comes along. And a storied tech person like yourself might be able to leverage the foreigner card to get an outsized salary teaching the local children or adults tech in a school or university setting.

[iamthejuan]

Create an account in Linkedin, you will get a lot of offer from the libro companies but the salary is low compared to other countries but still, you will have a regular money coming in for your family.

[biinui]

I'm from PH. Email me your résumé if you still need help. I can also send you food for the holidays.

[subhro]

Email me. I will try to help. Email is on profile.

[qingcharles]

Just want to say thank you to OP for this offer! I'm homeless after ten years in pretrial detention simply because I couldn't get access to my money to bail myself out. By the time I got out everything was gone. I am doing fine though and am on the road to recovery. It's been a hard few weeks as all the food pantries I went to over the Thanksgiving holidays were closed, when you would expect them to be open, but my regular haunt was open again yesterday and another should be open tomorrow.

I don't need anything though, I am (now) a man of extremely humble means. I wake up every morning alive and I have access to the Internet. What more does a nerd need? :D

p.s. I do accept any coupons for free SaaS subscriptions anyone has spare. Literally any tiny bit of money I get goes on subs and a Hetzner three euro/month ARM server rental!

[smokel]

What a beautiful initiative, thank you.

This might be a good place to inform people about the existence of the Sheltersuit Foundation [1] (I'm not affiliated in any way). They create decent sleeping bags for the homeless, and accept donations to provide them to those in need.

Last night a lot of Dutch people slept outside for one night to raise funds for the homeless. [2]

[1] https://sheltersuit.com/

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSA9AoWfVwU

[simne]

Greetings from Kiev, Ukraine!

We are grateful for your country support at these heavy for us times!

[atdrummond]

Thank you for sharing this info!

[geuis]

I'm hesitant to post but here goes.

I shared something about my current situation a couple days ago. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38464859

I've been looking for work most of this year. Lost count of the number of applications sent out and rejected. I've been turning over every rock and scraping every barrel bottom without success.

Rent is now late as of 12/1. Internet shut off yesterday, which is problematic for trying to find work.

I'm frankly embarrassed to be in this situation. I've always been the person to help out friends and family in situations like this and luckily they've been helping me out where they can, but they can only do so much.

[atdrummond]

Please email me. We’ll figure out something for the immediate needs.

Hang in there; I’ve been in this position and it is possible to get out. Look forward to connecting soon.

[subhro]

Email me as well. I will try to help. Email is on the profile.

[wiradikusuma]

I can't give money, but I can give my time. I've interviewed hundreds of candidates for the past 3-4 years. Recently I noticed more and more people are immediately available (i.e., they're currently unemployed).

If you're affected by tech winter and looking for someone to have a technical discussion to "upskill", feel free to reach out: https://tidycal.com/wiradikusuma/hn-30-min

I'm writing a "wide spectrum" technical book, but this is not a solicitation for the book. I'm mentioning this just to say I know a thing or two.

[_rs]

What does upskill mean in this context? I may consider reaching out but I don't want to waste your time either

[throwawayigloo]

(Just asking on here since it might be useful to others)

What advice would you give for a stay at home dad (5years) looking to return to tech.

How do I portray that on my resume and on linked in? How big of a deal is it?

[simne]

Greetings from Kiev, Ukraine!

Unfortunately, we still at war.

Must admit, now we are much better than year ago, Nov-Dec 2022, near from first day was constant blackouts due to rocket attacks. Your help was very warm light at all this.

Nov 2023 was boring waiting for fate, fortunately nothing special happen, but nobody could predict, how dangerous will be December 2023.

Thank you!

BTW I'm electric engineer and programmer, I ask to everybody who read this thread, please write, if you will got any ideas, how I could help others to feel warmer and safer.

[caslon]

I have no solutions for safer, but a relatively accessible solution for the literal interpretation of warmer is vulcanized rubber hot water bottles. Relatively little power/heat/energy requirements, but prolonged warmth.

https://web.archive.org/web/20231110021432/https://solar.low...

For the metaphorical warmer, something that could help people that you could probably help with as a programmer is a language learning platform: If people need to leave the country, knowing how helpful spaced repetition can be might save them a lot of strife.

If networking in your region becomes unreliable, it could be useful and helpful to know about mesh networking, but for that to be effective, cooperation needs to happen between multiple parties in different locations, and that can be difficult.

[wing-_-nuts]

Best wishes man. I used to have a number of colleges from Ukraine I know Russia is still actively targeting your power grid with those damned drones. They could probably use the help with power systems if you've got any experience in that sub specialty. Regardless, I hope you stay safe.

For others, Medshare is running a fundraiser for Ukraine: https://www.medshare.org/zukraine/

They provide medical supplies and stuff like backup generators for medical facilities. They were running a match program and my company has a gift match. Last year google matched contributions to UNHCR. I can't pass up a 3x match to a good cause.

[atdrummond]

I’m in Estonia so I am connected with many of your country mates (and attend a Greek-Ukrainian Catholic Church).

Please shoot me an email if you have any specific requests I can help with and I will do whatever I can to help!

[pgryko]

I'm also open to ideas. My girlfriend's elderly parents are based in Irpin, so I'm worried about heat outages. I've got them a battery powerstation, but even the large ones seem to have a limit of ~1000 watts, whilst a small heater pulls 2000 watts.

I'm contemplating getting a diesel generator, to share amongst them and their neighbours, but it's less than ideal as the generator has to be outside (for ventilation) and their apartment block doesn't have balconies.

[omginternets]

Are you guys in need of any specific supplies?

Coffee? Batteries? Radios? Car parts?

[Azametzin]

I really don't feel comfortable asking for help, even though I'm in an emergency mode with my whole day focused on trying to fix this. I've been trying to get back on my feet for months and I feel terrible about having to sit with my face in front of a screen all day trying to sort out my financial situation with short breaks to spend with my family, especially my son. I canceled a trip to see my parents for Christmas, who live far away, but it's the traditional meeting place. There are other many important dates that I simply cannot attend or do anything about at the moment, even 10 years of marriage in January. Anyway, I hope everything gets better soon. I'm trying hard, despite fear and other constant bad feelings.

[atdrummond]

There’s no shame in asking. If you change your mind, my email is in my profile and I’d be happy to help.

You’re in my thoughts and prayers.

[cushpush]

While not easy for me to ask for assistance, I have been working on my solo projects for the past 6 months, funding myself from saved wages. The oil in the lantern runs thin, metaphorically speaking, and any assistance would be greatly greatly appreciated. I am working on a nonprofit storefront for musicians to sell their music, for which we will take no platform fee for the first $1000/mo. in revenue. I find that this aim is something that drives me since I have a ton of musician friends who would tangibly benefit in their lives from something like this were it available. So I am working on it diligently. I will likely have to pick up some sort of shift work and code part time, work a delivery job part-time, until ends are meeting properly. If you would like to help that would be super amazing.

[hdlothia]

I have been putting off dental work to help a family member with severe mentally illness, I am dealing with burnout and working a non programming job with much lower pay and $275 would allow me to schedule the surgery a month earlier (in January). I don't mind being put on a waiting list since some people might be facing eviction or something first, but any help before the end of January would be great.

[atdrummond]

Feel free to email me your details and I am happy to help with this.

[subhro]

Email on profile. Would love to help.

[all2]

How do we contact you?

[fao_]

My name is Astryr, and I'm a disabled trans woman living in the UK.

I have depression, severe ADHD, burnout, a sleep apnea, and some kind of weird fatigue thing -- all of which blocks me from touching code, which is pretty much the only thing I am capable of and good at. According to testing I experience an apnea around 100 times an hour, and I wake up for 90 of those. On top of this I have a certain amount of agoraphobia and I completely shut down in stressful situations, which has prevented me from seeking UC and disability support payments. My job let me go last year, despite their assurances that they were disability friendly, so I've had to move back in with my parents which while it saves me from homelessness, means I'm without any social support that would help me through applying for UC. I am waiting for second stage triage for ADHD medication and for the local GIC to get back to me, both of which are six+ months away (it could be a year or longer, even).

I'm currently coasting on savings, which means I have approximately 100 quid left, and it has to last me for the next six months or longer. What I'd like is enough money to get an indoor cycle (even a shitty, broken cycle would be sufficient), so I can have the human equivalent of a hamster wheel to help get my blood pressure down so they will actually be inclined to prescribe ADHD medication when the time comes. Anything more will go towards private appointments for an ADHD diagnosis, which will hopefully allow me access to non-stimulant ADHD medication (which is not prescribed under the NHS), which will help me get back into work.

This entire situation feels extremely crushing, maybe posting here is a bit of a long shot. Regardless, thank you for reading and my email is available on my profile <3

[feydaykyn]

Wow what a mouthful, I'll send you some wheels

[codeforafrica]

I am not sure if this fits here, but there have been a few people posting who are struggling to find work, and so maybe this is a good audience for me.

First of all, financially, I am still good. I have a runway of about a year in expected payouts from past work.

About a year ago I moved my family from China, where I lived for 15 years, to Africa to start a new venture. At the time I had a customer who stuck with me and continued to pay me for work, so I was financially secure while making that move. Unfortunately a few months ago after 10 years of working together this customer had to end our cooperation due to lower profits on his side. I like to think that he stuck with me as long as he could afford it, and I am very grateful for that.

In China I had a great experience working with junior developers, training them and giving them a kind of work experience that they would not get in a Chinese company, and build a bridge between Western and Chinese cultures.

I would like to continue this kind of work in Africa, and I am looking for work that enables me to do that.

I am not creating a charity, and I am not looking for donations. Although you could pay me to work on your or my favorite Free Software or Open Source project. Aside from that I am simply looking for customers or employers who want the money they spend on their projects to have a secondary effect beyond just paying someone to get the work done.

I spent the past few months in Europe working hard to build a new network, going out almost every evening to events to network with people. My network is slowly growing. Better than my past networking efforts in China, but so far no solid offers materialized yet.

You can help if you have connections to people that believe that business should have a social impact. Or if you have ideas how I can improve my chances at finding those connections.

I am open to any kind of software development contract work from established businesses to startups who need a technical co-founder.

You can find my email in my profile.

[catharsisatlast]

Five years ago, I was in a car accident. Although the other driver was at fault and there were no medical expenses, I haven't been able to get my life back on track since. At the end of this month, I will be homeless.

It looked like I was going to be able to pull it off on my own originally, but it was going to take a year and every waking moment of every day was going to suck in the meantime. I was right about it sucking, but I was wrong about pulling it off. I had finally breathed a sigh of relief the weekend before Christmas Eve in 2019 since it looked like I was actually going to make it and it was only a matter of another month or two. I hadn't allowed myself to attach hopes to anything less than concrete at that point. COVID really screwed that up, and I got reset to zero.

I've been barely holding it together since then. Five years of working sh jobs for even worse people who know they have you and delight in it--even more than they value their own bottom line. Now I don't even have a job; it's been a month since my last paycheck and no more are coming. I look young and inexperienced and give the impression that I'm healthy enough financially/circumstantially to be able to absorb whatever shocks I might incur from others shifting onto me the things that they'd prefer for someone else to bear instead of them. But none of those things are true. People in Austin almost seem disappointed when they peg you for a slacker but it turns out you're not one, like you're doing something wrong.

I'll spend whole days looking for jobs from whomever might take me, including bad ones, with nothing to show for it. Once I write down my professional experience or we talk, anyone with a brain can tell I'm at the wrong place--I should be working somewhere that's a good job. Good jobs take 6 weeks to 6 months, but I don't have that, and I don't have the environmental stability to make it through the process, anyway, as far as take home assignments and clear, distraction-free thinking go. I can't even start to work out how I'm going to wash the last 5 years off my resume.

[catharsisatlast]

Reading this back, I realize that this could be taken the wrong way:

"Once I write down my professional experience or we talk, anyone with a brain can tell I'm at the wrong place--I should be working somewhere that's a good job."

The idea being that this sentiment is either stated explicitly by the other person during the interview, or it comes across in tone. I'm not saying or thinking anything like this. I don't feel like I'm owed a "good job". (I do feel entitled to dignity, on the other hand.)

I have been told outright to dumb down my resume and that I'm obviously overqualified. Anyone paying attention can pick up on the clues that I "shouldn't" be there, that it's only a temporary accident that I'm even available, and they're understandably hesitant to say "yes" if they feel they're just going to be back in the same situation looking for another worker shortly down the road, once I get back on my feet. They'd rather take a chance on a so-so worker who's not exactly reliable and is somewhat irresponsible if it means there's a chance that person will be around for an expected 2 or 3 years, rather than me, the wildcard. That leaves the people who aren't able to put things together. Accordingly, working for these people is generally miserable either by accident or takes a turn to being exploitative or abusive by intent (because "the cruelty is the point").

[Riseed]

I can't give money, but I have a stack of notecards and some stamps. I'll happily send a silly joke and happy holiday wishes to anyone who emails their address (email in profile). No promises, but if there's anything in particular you like (e.g. snow, the ocean, bears), let me know and I'll see if I have a card or joke to match.

[Ccecil]

Thank you for doing such a great thing. In my years on HN I have seen things like this come up several times. Offers of jobs, money or just a warm meal. The world will reward you for what you are doing.

In my case...things are difficult but not impossible. Month to month is an understatement and through the last 5 years it has become more and more painful but there is still hope.

I personally don't want anything to be given/gifted to me but if everyone could do a favor to all those who are struggling. It won't take long...

All I request is that this holiday season everyone thinks hard about what they have and how they got there. Remember all those who helped you...and those who did not receive the same.

Review your investment portfolio and think about the effects of where you put your money. Are your investments furthering poverty for others? Is there a way to rearrange your portfolio in a way that not only increases your wealth but also helps others?

Giving is good...helping those who are in poverty is important. Preventing people from getting to poverty in the first place seems like a more effective way of preventing homelessness.

Fix the small problems while they are still small.

https://www.egreenway.com/taoism/ttclz63.htm

[switchupcb]

I am technically homeless and would like $300 for food budget.

I can share more information about my situation in a month.

So help me out. You won't regret it.

Payment Methods: https://switchupcb.com/donate

Thanks

[atdrummond]

Email me and we will get you taken care of.

[liamwire]

Reading through these threads has left me crying on the bus. I’m ashamed that I can’t pay my rent this month after my cat died, and feel foolish for spending that money with the vet that tried to save her. I feel I caused my own hardship. I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet, but I’ve been listing my belongings on Marketplace to try and make up the gap. So if anyone in Australia wants to buy my MacBook Air or PS5, say hi.

[larmstrong]

Between our adopted fur babies, family deaths, and live just happening, we are definitely feeling the strain of the holidays. I don’t know that I feel comfortable asking for help, but I sincerely appreciate you doing this

[atdrummond]

Feel free to reach out any time this month if you start to feel the assistance would help.

If it doesn’t bother you, I would love to keep you in my prayers.

[Emiledel]

I'm moved and find it difficult to express the right words of sympathy, but I hope things get better soon for you with the other, kinder side of life

[fsck_init]

My wife moved to the US from Portugal 3 years ago - during Covid lockdowns. Today we have three children and she has still yet to see her family. She only recently received her Green Card (I was her sponsor), and was forced to remain in the US until it was approved. Now, we don’t have the money to fly the family there, and her family does not have the money to fly here. Watching my children get to know their grandparents through FaceTime has been heart wrenching, but it goes without saying that this has been hardest on my wife. She has had two children without her mother or father nearby, in a foreign country where she rarely speaks her mother tongue. I was hoping to fly all of us there this year, but we had a series of unexpected expenses that completely drained our nest egg. Supporting this family is the most important thing in my world, and sometimes I feel like I just don’t do or have enough Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[bigmusicshoe]

I am a grave digger. I dig probably 5 graves a week. it is really hard work. Although I work so much, the pay is not so good. I have no money to spend on holiday presents, and even don't have enough to pay the heating bill. I live in Berlin, and a couple of months ago, the price of gas heating went DOUBLE; so imagine that, in one month, your entire -carefully planned budget- is decimated. It was an intense shock! Anyways, my point is this: i just want to be able to make my family happy.

in good faith, morgan chalk-levy

[Schiendelman]

Email me - if I can help pay your gas bill, I’m happy to. Email’s on my profile.

[rex_lupi]

Although I'll appreciate any help, I do not feel comfortable asking for it. I'm planning to join a US uni for my phd but the application fees and other expenses are too high to afford by myself at this moment.

Anyway, I'd love to hear your story, and thank you for what you are doing.

[atsuzaki]

Hey, in most cases the application fees are waivable if you write to the application committee explaining that you are in a situation where the fees are a significant barrier.

The rest of the expenses though. Oof. (For americans reading: I paid over $700 just in visa and immigration processing-related fees)