indiegogo

Stephanie: You know how we were going to do a Kickstarter thing to get some baby money and that wouldn't work since they don't do 'life events' and what not but there was another site I couldn't think of? I just remembered... Indiegogo.
Johnathan: Yeah...It was more of a novelty idea and curious as to what kind of response it would get. I don't really have a compelling reason for someone to just give me money. I'm awesome?
Stephanie : Two smart kids from abusive backgrounds find each other across the cosmos and fall in love. They have ups, downs, laughs and tears and decide on an upswing to start a family. That upswing gets blown to bits and they scrape by for months with only $600 combined monthly income until they can both get jobs again but the baby's born before they're firmly back on their feet so they're back to ground zero as mom tries to heal as fast as she can and get back to work before dad's forced into male prostitution...
Johnathan: Right...But it's not something that the world would believe. I suppose we could make a "documentary" or something and we could label it something catchy/original like..."Slumdog Millionaire" or something...

Well, there are all kinds of things on Indiegogo so I decided to check it out and make a campaign. I figure, the worst that happens is no one donates, the best is that things pick up to the point we're able to get some funds to bring ourselves out of the paycheck to paycheck barely able to make it all work life we've been living. I would like to go grocery shopping and choose items based on health and flavor instead of what's the cheapest thing I can find. I would like to not have to worry about how I'm going to buy Oliver diapers or pay for his childcare or insurance.

The idea for the campaign came from us learning about the bus monitor who was made fun of by the kids on her bus, a campaign was started for her and because of internet word of mouth, she made $702,000 out of a $5,000 goal. Well, she didn't make the campaign, it was set up on her behalf...but still. Johnathan was the victim of every type of abuse you can think of growing up, and most of it too brutal to even think about writing about. I'd seen my fair share of hand-prints, flights of stairs, and ends of the barrel of a gun by the time I left home at 14. Stuff much worse than Karen the bus monitor went through (though don't get me wrong what she went through was awful). So we figured, hey, we've been through way worse than that and we're still going strong. We managed to find each other in the darkness and take our formally messed up lives and meld them into something better. We found our peace and just started getting our life on track and decided that it was a good of time as any to start a family...and then we both lost our jobs, and our optimism.

Now we've got a four week old son and we're struggling harder than we ever have had to before to make ends meet. That light at the end of the tunnel that once warmed us is now but a fading dream. There are diapers to buy, and food, and bills to pay. I'm terrified of getting that hospital bill for my delivery in the mail. We've sold so many things on Craigslist and still have more posted which doesn't seem to be going anywhere. It just never seems like enough. I'd be surprised greatly if we even raised $100. But, you never know. I'm sure when Max Sidorov created that page for Karen he never expected to make over 100 times what he set out to.

So... let's see what the internet will do.