{"id":30144,"date":"2016-06-13T13:27:16","date_gmt":"2016-06-13T18:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/?p=30144"},"modified":"2016-06-13T13:27:16","modified_gmt":"2016-06-13T18:27:16","slug":"replacing-the-beetle-starting-up-a-gofundme-fundraiser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/?p=30144","title":{"rendered":"Replacing the Beetle — Starting Up a GoFundMe Fundraiser"},"content":{"rendered":"

My friend and companion through many adventures over eleven years, my Volkswagen Beetle made its last ride<\/a> the week of Memorial Day.<\/p>\n

Now I need to replace it, and for help with that, I’ve started a GoFundMe campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Who are you?<\/b><\/p>\n

I’m Allyn Gibson, a writer. I’ve published some short fiction over the years, including the Star Trek<\/i> short story “Make-Believe” (Constellations<\/i>, Pocket Books, 2006) and the Doctor Who<\/i> short story “The Spindle of Necessity” (Short Trips: The Quality of Leadership<\/i>, Big Finish Productions, 2008), as well as some non-fiction articles. In the main, though, I’m best known as the writer of the PREVIEWS<\/i><\/b> catalog for Diamond Comic Distributors. (As I write this, I’m wrapping up work on my one-hundred and ninth issue.) You can find me on social media, and I have an irregularly updated blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What happened to your Beetle?<\/b><\/p>\n

The cooling system failed and the head gasket blew. There’s also two major issues beyond that; things that haven’t failed as yet, but are likely to fail sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n

What are you asking for?<\/b><\/p>\n

The Beetle, unfortunately, must be replaced. It’s required extensive — and expensive<\/i> — repairs over the last three years to stay on the road. Another expensive repair doesn’t make a great deal of sense. It amounts to throwing money in a hole, money I don’t have.<\/p>\n

Replacing the Beetle, however, presents an unfortunate problem — that’s slso<\/i> something I can’t afford.<\/p>\n

What I’m asking for, then, is help in putting together a down payment on a replacement for the Beetle.<\/p>\n

Why do you need a car? What about public transportation?<\/b><\/p>\n

I live in southern Pennsylvania. My job is in Hunt Valley, Maryland, roughly thirty-five miles away. Public transportation isn’t an option (there is a bus I could take in the evenings, but the schedule in the mornings isn’t feasible). Neither is living closer to the office; that wouldn’t be doable on my salary, anyway. And since telecommuting also<\/i> isn’t an option, I need a car. Without a car, I can’t work. If I can’t work… well, I don’t want to think about that.<\/p>\n

What are you looking for in a vehicle?<\/b><\/p>\n

Something that runs. A recent-ish used car without a ton of miles, which would be dependable for the York-to-Hunt Valley commute. I suspect a new car wouldn’t be feasible financially; my credit isn’t ideal.<\/p>\n

Why are you asking for help?<\/b><\/p>\n

I’m going to start by saying that even asking<\/i> for help is difficult for me. I like to help others when and where I can, but being in a position where I<\/i> have to ask for help is actually setting me on edge. “I’m in a tough spot and I need some assistance,” in this instance, outweighs, “I’m embarrassed to ask for help,” but it’s still uncomfortable to do it.<\/p>\n

Like millions of Americans, my life is financially precarious. My job at Diamond doesn’t pay quite<\/i> enough, but the finances have been borderline manageable, largely through avoiding unnecessary expenses and by thinking hard about what’s necessary. (Cable, by the way, is not a necessity, thus I don’t have it.) But I don’t have any emergency money set aside, I burned through the savings I had to keep my head above water long ago, and turning to family isn’t an option as they’re in no position to help.<\/p>\n

I can pull together a little<\/i> bit of money, but not enough to replace the Beetle. Thus, I’m turning to you — friends, acquaintances, even strangers — for assistance.<\/p>\n

What are you doing right now?<\/b><\/p>\n

At the moment? Catching rides with coworkers who live vaguely near me. It’s not a permanent solution, and it’s a situation I would like to resolve sooner (as in, within the next week) rather than later.<\/p>\n

Why the Q&A style?<\/b><\/p>\n

I like interviews. I got to interview Bloom County<\/i>‘s Berkeley Breathed<\/a> recently. Look for that in PREVIEWS<\/i><\/b> #334, available in your local comic shop the last week of June!<\/p>\n

Do you have stretch goals?<\/b><\/p>\n

Any funding campaign needs stretch goals. I have two.<\/p>\n

If we reach $100<\/b> (yes, a mere one hundred dollars), I will mail you a handwritten thank you note if you so desire.<\/p>\n

If we reach $5,000<\/b>, I will buy a kilt. From my careful reading of the employee handbook, kilts are not<\/b> expressly prohibited work attire. I will wear the kilt to the office (with a white dress shirt and a necktie, because that would look quite sharp, I think) — and not<\/i> on Halloween. There will be pictures, guaranteed!<\/p>\n

I have another question that you didn’t answer.<\/b><\/p>\n

Please ask! I’ll answer to the best of my ability.<\/p>\n

If you can help, thank you. I am truly grateful.<\/p>\n

If you can’t, I do understand, and I thank you for taking the time to read this.<\/p>\n

And here’s the link to the GoFundMe campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thanks for your time!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My friend and companion through many adventures over eleven years, my Volkswagen Beetle made its last ride the week of Memorial Day. Now I need to replace it, and for help with that, I’ve started a GoFundMe campaign. Who are you? I’m Allyn Gibson, a writer. I’ve published some short fiction over the years, includingContinue reading “Replacing the Beetle — Starting Up a GoFundMe Fundraiser”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[938],"class_list":["post-30144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","tag-vw-beetle","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}