Author: /u/smellyhoustonian

This an update to this post which we put up last week offering small grants of $200 to folks struggling because they’re out of work: https://www.reddit.com/r/houston/comments/fm1fvi/we_did_it_at_christmas_lets_do_it_again_affected/

We wanted to show this for a few reasons

1. to be transparent as to what we have been doing with money that generous redditors have shared with their Houston homies (let me know if y’all want more data)

2. Hopefully seek out some more donations from folks to help so hopefully we can get to everyone on the list (we have a huge hill to climb)

3. Get some testimonials from folks who were helped to encourage people to help more

Total Families Helped: 69

Total Money Sent: $13,800 (Raised on Venmo + People who sent funds directly to families)

Raised on Venmo from you all!: $9,565

Remainder to disperse from Venmo: $3,450 (Combination of weekly disbursement caps on Venmo/PayPal/CashApp has made it slow to get money out)

Families still in line: 177 Funds still needed: $35,400

Notes: In full transparency we are sharing the numbers to date (3/28/2020, 1:00pm) of the efforts to share $200 grants with people/families affected by employment issues due to social distancing. Caps on various cash transfer apps, and locks on my Venmo/bank account because of automatic fraud alerts, are causing minor logistical issues. But we’re working on getting the money out as fast as possible.

We’re trying to see if there are other groups who can help, but in the meantime:

If you’re able to sponsor a family directly – send me or u/tejasimo a DM on here and we will connect you!

If you prefer to donate, send funds to @Isabel-Longoria on Venmo or contact me via DM

We did it at Christmas, and we can do it again. We want to help out people that have been hit hard by the COVID-19 Quarantines and have rent/bills/general life expenses coming at them fast. This time, I’m going to do $200 grants to folks that have been furloughed or aren’t earning any income right now – we’re doing it until the Venmo says I can’t do it no more. Look for bartenders, wait-staff, cooks, busboys, domestic workers, dog walkers, movie theater employees, and anyone and everyone under the sun that I’m not thinking about that is getting hit hard.

We’re trying to be a bit more organized than last time – so we have a google doc – fill it out – we’re just looking for the following info – name, where you work, how do we get you money (your Venmo, CashApp or PayPal username).

If you want to help out, send a DM to u/tejasimo and she will get you on the list and connect you to a person that needs help

Let’s help our fellow Houstonians – post in here if you’re asking for help too, can help with tracking and verification – if you’re willing to share, can help build some credibility that you know, we’re actually doing this.

Form to ask for help