The Goodwill Librarian's loving family of six is about to become homeless! Can you help save our family? Here is our story:

At the beginning of June, I went to see my landlord to pay the rent and ask them to make some repairs on the property. The 2nd story deck had rotten boards that needed to be replaced again, there was a problem with the pipes in the shower, and the painters had painted one of my windows shut and I had broken it trying to push it open.

The next day they sent a contractor out to see what needed to be done. He said the deck had separated from the foundation and needed to be completely replaced. In addition the pipes in the wall in the bathroom would all have to be ripped out and replaced as well. He estimated that the total repairs would cost several thousand dollars. He said he would be back later in the week and left.

The next morning I woke to find a letter taped to my front door telling me I have 30 days to vacate the premises. My lease had expired over 5 years ago, and we were on a month to month basis so there was nothing we could do. We have until the 11th of July to be out of the home we have lived in for nearly six years.

I don't know how we are going to come up with a deposit as I was laid off from the Office of Public Assistance in March and have been unemployed ever since, and my boyfriend has been on worker's comp since February due to being injured on the job. He was just cleared to go back to work, but is restricted to light duties.

In addition, our electric is scheduled to be shut off in 10 days as we are a couple months behind on the bill, and to top it off, the brakes and 4WD actuator went out on our Tahoe, leaving us with no transportation. We have been living off our savings, but it is gone now and we have very little income. We have no way of coming up with a deposit for a new place for the six of us by the time we have to be out.

We have four amazing children, three of which are special needs (2 of the 3 are on the autism spectrum) and they do not handle change well. This is going to be a very difficult month for us, so I am here to ask for your prayers and any other help you may be willing to offer, be it advice or donations or simply a kind word of encouragement.

I am not usually the type to ask for help, I am usually the one offering it, but at this point we have no other alternatives. Please, please pray that we find some way of coming up with a deposit and a place in time, so that our family does not end up on the streets, and please pray that it is a smooth transition for our children.

For those of you that prefer to make a donation using PayPal, you can donate to my email address: Goodwill.Librarian@yahoo.com.

Thank you all for your support. God bless you!

Our Goals:
1. To be able to come up with the first month's rent and deposit for a 4 or 5 bedroom house. (We have a Section 8 voucher so rent is guaranteed to be paid once we pay the deposit.) Approximately $3,000 - $3,500

2. We will also need to be able to pay off our current electric bill and have new utilities turned on. Approximately $500

3. Car repairs: New rotors, shoes, pads, 4WD actuator, power steering line and a few other minor repairs. Have not gotten a quote yet, but a friend who is a mechanic said it would cost around $2,000 for all the repairs.

Thank you for caring enough to read this, have a blessed day!

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UPDATE: July 7

I am so sorry that I haven't had a chance to update you all on our housing situation. Myphone was shut off last week as well as our internet and I have had towait until I had transportation and access to wi-fi. I did however getsome posts uploaded and scheduled for this week for your enjoyment whileI am away. I would like to start off with a huge, heartfelt thank youto all of you for your kind words of encouragement, for your prayers andmost of all for your support. We could never have done this without allof you! It is funny, when my friend first told me to try thisfundraiser option, I laughed and said, yeah right like that is going towork. I figured at the most we might raise $100. Well, I am glad Iswallowed my pride and tried. Now, thanks to all of you amazing,wonderful people my family wont be on the streets! We have reached allthree of our goals and have enough money for a deposit, however we havenot yet found a place big enough for our special family. We have untilFriday to be packed and out of our home, so I won't be around much thisweek, but I will drop in and try to post an update when I do have accessto wi-fi. And rest assured, we will post photos of our new home as soonas we find one, after all, you are family now!!! Thanks again fromour family to yours, and bless you all!

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UPDATE: July 12

We ran out of room in our storage unit and had a hard time finding another one,so we were not able to be out of our place in time. Luckily the landlordagreed to give us an extension so we don't have to turn in the keysuntil Monday. We took today off to catch up on some rest and we'll moveall the furniture tomorrow. I am exhausted and off to bed. Hope you allhave a wonderful night!

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UPDATE: July 18

For those of you that have been following our housing situation, here is an update! We finally got everything put into storage, but have not yet found a place. We currently have our own little village at the KOA while we look for a home. The kids are loving it! Thanks again for all your help!

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UPDATE: July 21

I told you I could write a book about it, and here it is! Our experience camping here at the Missoula KOA has NOT been the wonderful experience we expected it to be. We were kicked out due to a misunderstanding about our special needs children and It has been a complete nightmare! After checking in on Wednesday and pre-paying for a week plus reserving an additional week, we went to our site which had been recently renovated. There was hardly any grass at all and someone in the site next to us had been running the water, so the site was mostly dirt and mud with a little grass around the edges. We were disappointed, but knew it was the last available site so we shrugged it off and set up camp.

In case you didn't see the pictures we posted, there was a 2 person tent for Evan and I, a 2 person tent for Tim and Zander and 2 children's tents for Kat and Nathan, our oldest two. We had our own little village and the kids loved it! It was a great evening, we swam in the pool and had dinner and played with the kids at the park. At 9:00 we tucked the kids into bed, but they were so riled up from all the transition that it turned into a slight battle, and yes there was some yelling and hollering. (Two of them are on the Autism Spectrum, so change is never easy for them. My oldest, Nathan, is also bi-polar with IED and is prone to tantrums for no reason.) In addition, one of the campers behind us had their tv blaring pretty loud, so it was hard for the kids to go to sleep. We finally got them calmed down and Evan left to go work his graveyard shift. Around midnight, an hour after "Quiet" time went into effect, the tv next door was still blaring. Frustrated I unzipped the tent asked them to turn it down and was given no response. So I asked again, saying I was going to call the office if it didn't stop. I never left the tent, so I didn't know who it was for sure, but after some rude comments they turned it down and we were finally able to go to sleep. The next morning, after Evan had returned from work, we were getting ready to go to the pool when golf cart pulled up and a KOA employee walked up wearing a bright yellow shirt and an angry looking scowl. She glared at us and in a very hostile tone stated:

"I am Kathy, the manager here at KOA. This is your ONE and only warning. We have had complaints from two different campers saying you have been abusive towards your children and yelling profane language at them. This is a family campground and this kind of behavior is not permitted!" I was shocked and appalled! I would never hit a child! I am a teacher for National Alliance on Mental Illness and a mandated reporter. I could not believe I was being accused of such a thing! Nor would I ever swear at a child, I don't even permit swearing on this fan page! I stood there with my mouth agape and pulled myself together. I assumed it was the people I had problems with over the tv the night before, so I tried to tell her what had happened, but she wouldn't even listen to our side of the story. Instead she talked right over me and proceeded to list other rules we were breaking as well, such as us having 4 tents when we are only allowed 2, which no one had informed me of, and I have been camping here for years. We have always used at least 3 tents. She also said our tent was too far off the tent pad, though she didn't seem bothered that the campers in the site next to ours had a tent almost all the way off their pad. Evan was exasperated at this point and asked her why she was being so hostile and that really enraged her. She screamed at him, "YOU CAN LEAVE RIGHT NOW!" So Evan asked to speak to her supervisor and again she screamed at him, "I AM THE MANAGER! WHAT I SAY GOES!" to which he replied, "Yes, you are the manager, but I know there is someone you report to, I want to speak to them." She told us to wait at the site and she would send someone over.

Over half an hour later, no one had come to speak with us, so my son Nathan, who refused to leave my side (age 10, diagnosed with Aspergers, bi-polar disorder, sensory disorder, IED and several other issues) and I went to the office to speak with the owner. We were shown into the office where Laurie, the owner, and Kathy, the manager were waiting. I explained to Laurie that I just wanted a moment to plead my case, that Kathy had been completely hostile and unwilling to to hear my side of the story. Kathy stood there shaking her head no the whole time. I proceeded to explain our situation to Laurie. Everything we have been thru. How our family had lost our home and that we had no where to go, and that we have 4 children, 3 of which are special needs, 2 of them on the autism spectrum. I explained that I thought it was all about the tv complaint and I told her we would never hurt our children. I even offered to give them an additional $100 deposit that they could keep if we broke any of the rules. Just please give us our one chance back. She told me that it wasn't about the tv incident, that 2 employees had witnessed it, and that she believed them. (We were originally told it was 2 campers.) She then said that letting us stay would just cause more problems down the road and that we had until 3:00 to be out. My son went into total melt down mode and begged and pleaded to her not to kick us out, but she just shook her head. I calmed him down and we went back to the site.

When we returned to the site, Evan was on the phone with Tami from KOA's corporate office. He had told her the whole story and she said she would call them on our behalf. She also told him he should call our local authorities and the Montana Landlord-Tenant Association to see what the laws were. He told her I had just returned from speaking with the owner and that he would like a moment to talk to me and see what happened and told her he would call her back. I told him what happened and that we had to be out by 3. He took Tami's advice and called and spoke to a detective, the county attorney, and the Montana Landlord-Tenant Association. All three told him it was a civil matter and that to make us leave they would have to take us to court. Evan then called Tami back and gave her an update on what he had learned. He then went to speak to Laurie himself.

When he walked into the office, he apologized to Kathy for being abrasive and told her he understood she was in a diffucult position and that she was just doing her job. He explained to her that he had felt his family was being attacked and he had automatically reacted in a defensive nature. He once again tried to plead our case to Laurie, but was told that a camper and an employee had both witnessed it. Frustrated Evan said, "Ok, I just have 2 questions then. Why did Kathy originally say it was 2 campers, and then when Kimberly came into the office you told her it was 2 employees, and just now you told me it was one of each. I would like to know which story it is. My second question is why, when Kathy came out to talk to us, she was willing to give us one chance, but when I asked why she was being so hostile and asked for her supervisor, she immediately tried to kick us out permanently? Why can't we have our one chance back?" She told Evan they needed to discuss the situation and that they would let us know. He asked if we could at least take the kids to the pool in the meantime, and she agreed.

We packed up the kids and went to the pool, each of us praying that they would let us stay. About a half hour later, Kathy and Laurie came and found us at the pool. They had (grudgingly) decided to give us one more chance, we could stay for the 7 days we had paid for, but they would not honor our reservation for the second week. And if there was one more complaint about us, we were gone for good. In addition, we had to correct the rules we were breaking, so we could only use 2 tents and they had to stay on the tent pad. Relieved that we weren't being kicked out, Evan and I sat down to try and figure out how to fit us all into 2 tents. Unfortunately, no matter how we tried, the 6 of us would not fit into the 2 tents we have. Not knowing what else to do, we went out and bought a new tent so that we would be in compliance. Evan even measured the tent pad to make sure that whatever tent we bought would fit. We got back, broke down our entire camp and put up the new tent. We did not want any more trouble. Our family had already been thru enough. The rest of the day was uneventful. We were relieved, but still stressed, forced to walk on egg shells. We prayed that none of the kids would have a melt down, or get too loud. We still didn't know for sure who had complained about us, and we did not want to find out the hard way.

The next morning when Evan got home from work he was exhausted. He hadn't gotten any sleep the day before due to all the drama, so he went straight to bed and I packed up all the kids and went to my mother's house for the day so he would have some peace and quiet. We returned to camp a little after 2:30 and all of us went to the pool. After a swim we were all feeling a little better. In hopes of cheering the kids up, we went grocery shopping and picked up hotdogs and potato salad for dinner and fixings for s'mores. The kids had a blast cooking their hot dogs over the fire and they finally seemed to be starting to relax. We took the kids to the park for the free pony rides then went back to camp and Evan started getting ready to do s'mores but found that the chocolate had melted. The kids were very upset and all started whining and crying and one went into a total meltdown mode. Exhausted from lack of sleep and from the emotional stress we had been thru, Evan started booming at the kids in his magician voice and sent them all to bed. He was very careful to make sure he did it in a way that no one could say he was being abusive. We did not want them to have any reason to kick us out. Angry and frustrated he decided to leave camp and go calm down. On his way out of the site, he slapped an empty pop can that was sitting on the post and it hit the wall of the bathroom. It hit harder than he thought it would as it was not actually empty like he thought it was, so he hollered, "I hit a can, not a kid!" to the nosey neigbors around us and stormed off.

I put the food away and cleaned up the camp site and watched as one of the campers from a cabin across the way came over to gossip with the campers in the site next to us. They sat and whispered to each other while stealing glances at me when they thought I wasn't looking. I had finally figured out who the second false accuser was, The couple in the cabin. Evan came back about 15 minutes later all calmed down and we sat down at the picnic table to talk. I told him my suspicions as to who I thought was complaining and just as I was telling him, another golf cart pulled up, this time with two men in yellow shirts. They came over and told us someone had complained that we were cussing at the kids.. At this point I was already near tears and so choked up I could barely speak. I was terrified it was going to be a repeat of the day before, that they would not believe us and that we would be kicked out for sure. Luckily, Lloyd was a professional. He did not let emotion rule him like Kathy did. He stood and calmly listened to our side of the story, the whole story. When we finished explaining, he looked at us and said, "I believe you." I almost had a heart attack! He told us he was familiar with the autism spectrum and that most people just don't understand. He said that every parent in the campground yells at their kids, and even if we had cussed, it happens all the time all over the camp ground. He told us that he had been working around our site quite a bit and that he had never heard anything, in fact, we had the cleanest site in the camp. He told us not to worry about it anymore, that he would take care of it and that if we had any more problems, to ask for him or Ken.

I was so relieved I literally cried. Lloyd and Smokey drove off and Evan and I sat and talked about everything that had happened. I was an emotional wreck and could not stop crying. I had never been treated with such contempt. Both of us are considered pillars in our community. Evan as the most loved magician in Montana and me as the Goodwill Librarian. We both have commendations from the mayor and are used to being respected in our community. Upset by the fact that we had been accused of abusing our children, Evan went back to the office to speak with LLoyd again and ask his advice on how to handle the situation. He wanted to know if Lloyd thought we should call an officer and have everything documented just to be on the safe side. When he walked into the office there were 5 employees gossiping about us and our situation and when they saw him, one said "shhh! That's him!" Evan replied, "I couldn't help but over hear what you were saying. Is there anything I can address for you? Any questions I can answer?" He was met with a guilty silence. Lloyd finally arrived and the 5 other employees formed a circle around him as he told our story and asked them to just treat us fairly. To give us a chance. Lloyld told Evan not to worry about it anymore, that he had already called the manager and that if we had any more problems, to ask for him or Ken.

About 45 minutes after Evan came back to camp, Lloyd showed up. He sat down at the table with us and we all talked about everything that had happened. He stayed for quite some time. We explained that we felt we were being ganged up on for something we didn't even do, and tried to explain what it was like to be in our situation with our special needs children. He completely understood and told us that there were other autistic children that came here to camp and that he had been trying to talk the campground into putting in some more secluded sites for them. I was thoroughly impressed by Lloyd's professionalism and his sincerity. For the first time since we had arrived at the KOA, I finally felt at peace. Things were going to be ok. Lloyd left, once again stating that if we had any more problems, to ask for him or Ken. Evan left for work and I went to bed and things were great for the most part up until Sunday.

Sunday was my son, Timothy's Birthday Party. He turned 9, so we had a small party at our site. My mother came, my brother and his girlfriend came with his 2 girls, our former neighbor with her son, and a little boy from my son's school. We had cup cakes and presents and then took all the kids to the pool. Our daughter had had a meltdown at the pool on Saturday and had gone thru a couple of bouts of screaming, and as I entered the pool, the attendant, Em, told me there better not be a repeat of the day before or we would have to leave. I was somewhat offended that she said that and I reminded her that our children were on the autism spectrum but she just turned around and walked away. The kids swam for about an hour and there were no issues. Evan and I were sitting in the hot tub with Nathan and Zander. Nathan was holding onto a rope that had a thermometer attached to it. He was not touching the thermometer, just holding the rope when Em walked up. She placed both hands on the side of the hot tub and told him to put the thermometer down. He was staring off into space and did not hear her. Nathan has Aspergers, which is a mild form of autism. If you are not maintaining eye contact with him, it is likely that he doesn't hear you. As I opened my mouth to say something, she slapped him on his right shoulder and said, "Put that down! We have already had to replace two of them!" And before I could say a word she turned and walked away. Furious I hollered, "Don't you EVER touch my child again! He is autistic! What is wrong with you!" at her retreating back, but she didn't even bother to turn around. She did not hit him hard, but regardless, I couldn't believe that after accusing us of abuse, one of their own employees would have the audacity to lay a hand on my child.

I sat there in shock! Nathan has sensory disorder and a stranger touching him can cause a major melt down instantly. Luckily I caught it in time and was able to mostly stave it off. In the meantime, Em then approached Zander (age 6, not a special needs child) who was wearing a life jacket and swimming in the deep end like he has been since the first day we arrived. She asked him if he could swim. He said no and she told him he could not be in the deep end which caused meltdown number 2. Feeling like we were being harassed again, Evan and I started packing up all our stuff to leave. My mother, who had witnessed my son being slapped, confronted Em and told her that if she ever touched her grandson again she would regret it. Em proceeded to claim she had never touched him, despite the fact that there were at least 6 witnesses that watched it happen. She then proceeded to scream at us to get out. My mother went to the office to file a complaint. They wrote it up and said they would give it to the manager in the morning. Evan went to find Lloyd, but was told that Lloyd was off for the day. The other man that Lloyd told us to talk to is Ken, but he is Em's husband and we did not feel comfortable going to him about the matter. My mother insisted that we call the police and file a report, but I was afraid that if we did, they would kick us out, so we let it go and we left.

I have tried so hard to stay positive through this whole ordeal, but I am at a loss. I can't take much more of this. We have done nothing wrong, but have been made to feel like criminals. Completely disrespected and discriminated against due to our children's disabilities and other people's prejudices. Yes, I am sure it was disruptive to have a family of 6 dropped into the middle of the nice quiet campground, and I am sorry if we disrupted everyone's stay, we never meant to. We just thought that after all the stress our family has been through, that camping would be a nice break for us. A bit of a vacation from the turmoil. We have this campsite until the 23rd, but how do I stay in a place that is completely hostile towards us? And where do we go from here? I am so sorry that this whole thing happened. My kids and I have been staying at the KOA for years and have never had a problem until now. It was our favorite place to come in the summer. The staff had always been friendly and kind in the past. And most of them still are, I just don't understand how all of this happened. How could it escalate to this point?

So many of you were kind enough to donate to our cause, so in a way, you have a stake in this. You paid for us to be here. What the KOA is doing is wrong, and if they will do it to us, they will do it to others. A woman here in Missoula messaged me yesterday to tell me that her and her autistic son went thru something similar at the very same KOA last summer. And another telling me how they mistreated her dying father. Help us put a stop to this kind of treatment. Call and tell them what you think, send an email, help us get the word out there so that other parents with special needs don't have to go through the same nightmare we have. I am not asking for an apology, I am not asking for a refund and I do not plan on pressing charges. All I am asking for is that they realize that their employees made a mistake and perhaps make the staff take some sort of disability awareness class so that this does not happen again in the future. Special needs parents have a tough time as it is. We need to make people more aware. For the parents, and for the children's sake.

In the meantime, remember to never look down on someone unless you are helping them up. Be thankful for the simple things in life. Go hug someone you love and then read a book for me! I haven't had time to read in over a month! Have a wonderful day my friends! Thank you all for your support!

Corporate Office: Kampgrounds of America, Inc. 1-888-562-0000 PO Box 30558 Billings, MT 59114

questions@koa.net or www.koa.com

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UPDATE: July 22

We are all packed up and out of the KOA, and found us a nice quiet place to stay up in the mountains at a friend's house until we find a home. At least here we won't bother anyone and no one will bother us. We just want to put this whole horrible experience behind us and move on. Losing our home was a devastating blow to us, and things just seem to be getting harder. It's getting more difficult to keep a positive outlook. I probably won't be around much as there is no internet where we are staying, but I will try to give you periodic updates from my phone when I can. My lovely Admins, Anya, Heather, Rebecca, Stacey and Danica will take good care of you while I am gone.

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UPDATE: August 16

There has been so much that has happened since my last update, I don't even know where to begin. After the KOA incident, multiple people did in fact turn us in to Child Protective Services. After a full investigation and interviews with all of the agencies our families work with, they have determined that we are good parents and are doing what is best for our children and have closed the case. I never had any doubt, however it has been incredibly traumatic for our children. It breaks my heart that they have had to go through this.

Our search for a new home has been just as fruitless. After applying for several places that would have been perfect for us, and being denied each time, we finally had a friend call and check our rental history. It turns out my previous landlord is claiming I owe them for damages. Replacing the carpet, painting the walls and several other repairs that I had been asking them to make since I moved in nearly 6 years ago. We had never imagined this process would take so long. We thought for sure we would find the perfect home and move right in. But that is not the case. Instead, we have been struggling to survive day to day, slowly watching our savings trickle away to expenses we had not counted on, such as the 2 large storage units for all our stuff, food and lodging for the six of us, and now an additional $1500 to the landlord.

We sat down and discussed our options, or lack thereof... And decided that until we could get our finances in order and find a place to fit us all, my boys and I would stay with my mother and Evan and his kids would stay with friends. It has been a very difficult change for all of us, especially for the kids, but we are running out of time. Our voucher expires September 10th, and if we do not find a place by then, we lose our voucher. It took us three years on the waiting list to get it and I don't want to have to go through that again.

In addition to all this stress, my little brother is going thru a custody battle over his step daughter. He and his wife separated last year and she gave him custody of her 7 year old daughter Lylie and their 4 year old daughter Allura while she went to go care for an ill family member in Texas. My brother has been Lylie's father since she was a baby. The biological father, who has a history of violent behavior, has had little to no contact with her over the years, only his mother was involved in her life. My brother and his wife allowed her visitation whenever she wanted it, despite the fact that she constantly bad mouthed my brother and told Lylie he wasn't really her daddy. When my brother's wife left, the grandmother decided she wanted custody of Lylie and talked the father into filing for custody. She even went so far as to kidnap her once and to call CPS on my brother.

Since Lylie is not his biological daughter, he does not have any rights. His wife must fly back from Texas to fight for custody in court. The judge has given them an extension, but court is on the 31st of this month. His wife has no money to fly back to Montana, nor do they have the money to hire an attorney. My brother is in danger of losing his daughter to a completely psychotic woman, and it breaks my heart because I do not know how to help.

I never would have imagined that my life would turn out this way. This time last year I had a beautiful home, a beautiful family with happy, well adjusted children, a job I absolutely loved, and hardly any worries. In the last six months I have lost almost everything. I have done a lot of soul searching over the last few days, and I think I have come to a decision. With my rental history the way it is, I will not be able to find a place. Evan and I are better off being separated at the moment and finding separate places to live until we can get our finances in order. I have decided to give up my voucher and stay at my mother's house, and give the money that I have left to my brother to fight for his daughter.

So many of you have offered your support, by means of kind words, prayers and even donations, and I want to thank each and every one of you for all of your help. We would never have made it this far without you. I apologize that the money is not going where I originally said it would, but I do believe with all my heart that I am making the right decision, I cannot stand by and watch my niece get taken and placed into a home where she is in danger of such emotional abuse. I hope and pray that you understand, and ask for your continued prayers during these trying times.

I am NOT asking for donations, just your prayers, but if you are still interested in donating anyway, please make your donations via PayPal as the fundrazr site keeps a good portion of each donation. You can make donations via PayPal using my email address which is Goodwill.Librarian@yahoo.com Thanks again for all your support! God bless you all!

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