The Power Went Out. Our Van Died. We're Still Fighting — and We Need Help.

No A/C. Just fans. Diabetic mom. Power was shut off. Our van just died.
We’re up against a lot — but we’re not giving up.

Hi, I’m Adele Michaels.

Our power was shut off recently.

We live in an old apartment building that can’t support air conditioning. Fans were our only defense against the heat — and without electricity, even those stopped working.

My mom is diabetic and extremely heat-sensitive. Without power, we couldn’t keep her insulin cold. We couldn’t run fans. Couldn’t cook. Couldn’t store food. With the heat index in the triple digits, it became terrifying, fast.

Thanks to a few generous friends, we were able to pay the fee to file for a medical emergency extension. That gave us 30 days of breathing room — 30 days to raise enough to restore power and stay ahead of another shutoff.

Originally, we were asking for $1,000. But then… our van gave out.

The Orange Crusher — our old, beat-up but reliable workhorse — lost its transmission completely. We couldn’t afford a tow, so we literally had to drive it home in reverse. A cop yelled at us for it, but we didn’t have another option.

The van earned its nickname honestly. Over time, we replaced nearly every sensor in it trying to trace down an issue, only to finally pin it on the upstream O2 sensor. It crushed our wallets long before it finally died — but we depended on it for everything. Especially DoorDash.

So now, we’re raising the fundraiser goal to $1,500.

• $500 will go directly to the electric bill.

• The remaining $1,000 will go toward a cheap, running vehicle so we can get back to work.

We don’t need something fancy — just something with a transmission, four wheels, and a fighting chance. Without a vehicle, we can’t even dash to cover gas, let alone bills.

Child support already made things harder by forcing DoorDash to switch our payouts from instant to weekly. We used to work for an hour, grab gas, and keep going. Now we’re lucky to see $50 a week after deductions. That change broke a system we were barely holding together.

We’re doing everything we can. Still working. Still pushing. But we need help to survive this next hit.

If you can donate, thank you. If not, sharing this helps more than you know.

We’re tired, but we’re still here.
Still trying. Still hoping.

— Adele