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WE ARE LOOKING FOR 20,000 NICE PEOPLE WHO CAN SPARE $1 EACH.
Are you a nice person? Do you perform "random acts of kindness"? Do you get a warm feeling from helping other folks?
We're nice people too. We help people out when we can. We have many blessings, for which we are constantly grateful, wonderful children, good health. There's just one thing we have that we don't want: a $20,000 debt!
If 20,000 NICE people with $1 to spare could help us, we could be free of debt. We'd really appreciate your help!
We didn't get into debt by living high on the hog or buying a lot of stuff. We live pretty modestly in the suburbs of a major city, drive two used "basic transportation" cars (135k and 74k), and don't eat out, go shopping except for basics, and we have cancelled cable TV. We really try to live within our means.
So how did we get $20,000 in the hole? It started ten years ago when Lois's company moved across country. Jerry gave up his job so Lois could keep hers and we moved. Our first child was a year old and the second was on the way. The recession had just started and it took Jerry nine months to find a job in his field, and that's when we started going into debt to make ends meet. After Jerry got a job, we bought a house and were doing OK. We paid down our debt and felt stable. Then after ten years, with another recession, Jerry was laid off. Fortunately he found a better job three months later! But meanwhile:
1. The roof sprang a leak had to be replaced (cost: $8,000).
2. The house had to be repainted and wood damage repaired after 20 years of not being painted($3,000).
3. Two old cars died and had to be replaced (used: $5,000 nd $8,000).
Soon we were paying $1,000 a month to try to eliminate our debt, but we could just manage it....
...until Lois got laid off too along with thousands of other workers at her company.
Lois has gone back to school to learn a new skill. When she finishes, she will earn a good living again. But in the meantime we have one paycheck for the next year and a half and a little over $20,000 in debt that hangs over our head and worries us at night. What if something else happens?
So like a lot of folks we read about the famous Karyn (of savekaryn.com) and others who are asking the public to help them. On the one hand, it seems very strange to ask for money from strangers. On the other hand, there are millions of people on the Net, and lots of nice people who enjoy helping other people. At least, we sure hope so.
Clearly we're not much of a hard luck case compared to most people in this world who are suffering, hungry, ill housed, disease ridden, or at risk of war and famine. We're just middle class people who are being squeezed a bit. At the end of the day, we have our health, family, education, and will get out of debt no matter how long it takes.
But we wonder if any nice people, the kind of people who LIKE helping other folks out, would want to help us pay down this debt. For less than the cost of a latte at Starbucks, you could give us a buck and help us get out from under this debt.
Now we know it's kind of crazy to ask strangers for help. We work (going to school is work too) and we put every spare dollar into paying down our debt. Honestly we do. We eat meat once a week, don't eat out, don't buy stuff. If the consumer economy depended on us, the country would be in trouble! Our idea is, if we don't really need it, we can get along without it. So we promise not to waste any money you might feel like giving us. We won't stop being frugal; we just want to stop being in debt.
Below are some reasons NOT to help us, and one or two reasons why you MIGHT want to help us anyway.
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Here are the main reasons why you might NOT want to help us (and our reply):
1. You're totally broke. Well, then don't send us money. In fact, maybe WE should send YOU a dollar!
2. You have money to give to charity. But you want to help people who are really destitute: suffering from war, famine, disease, lack of basic decent living conditions. We agree with you! Please help any or all groups that are doing some good in the world!
3. You think asking for things is immoral because life is a contest for survival of the fittest and those who can't make it on their own should just get out of the way so those more fortunate can get ahead. We won't get into an argument with you; it's just not our way of thinking. But maybe it's yours.
4. You think the idea of middle class people asking strangers to help them is demeaning, obscene, crazy, and proof of America's decay, or a sad commentary on our lack of gumption. What can we say? We're doing the best we can to put food on the table, pay our bills, pay down our debt, and live a decent family-centered life. We are not bad people. We're nice people, just like most of you. Only we're nice people with a $20,000 debt.
Now here is the one single reason anyone should send us $1, $2, $3, $4, $5 or....
It will make you feel good to help some nice people get out of a hole.
That's all you get out of it...a good feeling by helping two people who are JUST LIKE YOU only a bit more in debt than you...$20,000 more.
We'd like to stress that you get NOTHING material in return for this. We don't sell anything and we are not a charity. Any money you send us will be a GIFT to us, like when your Aunt Tillie would send you a check for your birthday. Your gift is NOT tax-deductible and you get nothing in exchange for your gift. You can't write it off your taxes; it's a gift.
We promise faithfully that we will use 100% of any money nice people send us to pay down our debt. We promise to keep paying the maximum we can afford each month to pay down our debt. We don't want a free ride, just some help. We will stop asking for money when our debt is gone, take down this web site and donate any money left over to charity.
We will let you know on this site how much money WE are spending each month to pay off our debt and how much money NICE PEOPLE send us to help us out.
Maybe nothing will come of this. But we believe in karma -- if you put out positive energy into the universe, positive energy will come back to you.
Have you ever given somebody something just because it made you feel good to know you had helped someone out? A couple of stamps? A quarter for a bus or soda machine? Remember the smile on their face?
If you are really broke, or give all your extra money to charity and worthy causes, or hate people who ask for money, then DON'T send us anything!!!
BUT if you have a dollar or two or three to spare, we'd really appreciate it if you'd be willing to help us get out of debt. We promise to pass the karma on to others in a circle of positive energy.
Thanks for listening.
To find out how to save Jerry and Lois, click on the link below. Or write us at jerryandlois@hotmail.com.
THANKS AGAIN!
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Our motto: "Nice people helping nice people get out of debt."
For the cost of a cup of coffee, you could make our day. And it should make you feel good too.
If you have something NICE to say, write to us at jerryandlois@hotmail.com. We'd love to hear from you!
We'll post NICE letters here. But please DON'T write us nasty letters. We won't answer or post nasty letters. Just treat us like a song you hear on the radio: if you don't like the song, just change the channel to another station or turn off the radio.
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