tl;dr if you need help, https://findhelp.org/ actually has help.
Navigating support programs, government "aid", charity outreach, mutual aid funds, and all other things that one needs when they are completely in need of help, is a nightmare, exhausting, and seems designed to be unintuitive.
I've spent a little over a year now discovering this, more and more, as each lead turned out to not give enough or not be for me (specific age group? specific denomination? not just 'people', ever), or turned out to actually not be what was advertised at all...
Well. Today I found https://findhelp.org/ and I actually found help.
The biggest part of my problem is that I don't have my GED, because my time had to go to caring for my mom through cancer, not education. I did what I could (so far the lessons are recapping what I know, with weird techniques that make math slower?) but of course, society doesn't see that, they just see what one is lacking.
It's really hard to get to GED classes when you do not have a car, do not have income to get a car (or moped, or bike), and the most frustrating part was when the people I spoke to at GED programs could not seem to comprehend the simple phrase "I have no means of getting to you."
"Okay, well, we can just make an appointment for next week, and you can let us know if you can't be there?"
Like, lady, I just said I cannot get to you, were you listening to a different thing?
So it was a tremendously amazing thing to actually find an online GED program, which was not findable through Google when I searched each time, that's free, remote, whenever I have time instead of strict times that my health may not be able to handle, and completely without judgement.
I've still got to get through until I can complete this, and somehow get transportation to the actual GED testing center, but having completed a free class and practice test, I'll know I'm not spending money and time on an exam I will just fail and have to do it again. A meal, maybe several meals, down the drain.
So yeah. My catch-22? It may have just broken. I sincerely hope, because art commissions is not feeding me, nor paying the bills, and I'm about to lose heat, internet and water.
If you can help please do, if only by spreading the word that I'm here, and will exchange art for funds.
In the meantime? If you need help, there just might be help.https://findhelp.org/
