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As of today March 3rd, Perry and I just found out that the jobs we have been hired for at a local Cracker Barrel, have been put on hold for at least another week! We had our first and second interviews nearly 3 WEEKS AGO.
Never in our lives has it taken us so long to get hired anywhere! Not to mention that the job that Perry has waiting for him in Indiana will pay him twice as much.

All we need to do is raise this money. Will you please help us today? We are praying for a miracle. Please read on about our journey.

We are Perry and Laura Manning, and along with our beloved and “special needs” cat Bastet, we are currently staying in someone’s home in Louisiana.

Perry and I are educated, motivated and would like to take this time to share with you a bit about who we were, and are now, as we believe that truth is everything, after having been through so much.

We are a married couple who are both on the mend, from our respective pasts, that had affected us as individuals and as a couple for years.

Some challenges that we have successfully overcome, are emotional and spiritual issues, having grown up in a neglectful/abusive home environment, P.T.S.D, alcohol abuse, and some very eye-opening financial mistakes, before learning some valuable life lessons.

To this date, even with the best of intentions, we are still challenged by rising above the debt incurred by us both, before we found our path to recovery and faith.

As two well intentioned souls, Perry and I have fought hard, and won many “battles”, to not only heal ourselves in mind, body and soul, we have also achieved a much healthier and joyful relationship as well.

Giving up alcohol has been a true blessing. Perry has been sober for 9 years, and through renewed faith and with our chosen spiritual path, I no longer need to take prescription medication to control symptoms of P.T.S.D and the once debilitating agoraphobia, that was a complication of the P.T.S.D.

My husband Perry has been of great service and support to others who want to give up alcohol.
Perry and I had met in 2009, and after getting sober from alcohol and years of relationship ups and downs, we persevered, grew as people, and then married in 2014.

Things were especially looking up for us, when we created our own seasonal business known as Rogue Private Chef Services, in our home state of Michigan. We had increasing success with our business during the summer months, however during the winter months our clients would leave til next season, and Perry and I had to seek employment to get us through the winter.

This was a challenge, as the surrounding area in which we lived at that time, slowed down and there are fewer jobs available.

We were scraping by during the winter months, and then because of an unfortunate financial situation, and due to scarcity in employment, Perry and I lost our apartment in May 2017, and ended up camping in the woods for a couple of months, while he worked at a part-time job he was able to find. It had been a rough winter employment wise, and I was having bad luck with finding work, and Perry just wasn’t bringing in what he normally would, working at a restaurant.

We were coming up on early summer. Taking a chance, Perry reached out to an acquaintance on historical Mackinac Island, MI, and was not only offered a job on the spot, we were also given housing!

By the start of July 2017, we were living on Mackinac Island, which was perfect timing, as our 2003 minivan we had at that time broke down, and was beyond repair. We gratefully made it to the ferry in Mackinaw City, that was taking Perry to his new job, and all of us to our new home.
Bastet “Bastie”, is a seasoned traveler, and we are so grateful, that she has adapted to traveling great distances so well.
I found work in retail sales very soon after getting on Island, and we were very happy.
Mackinac Island, is a seasonal resort town, that draws thousands of tourists during the summer, and shuts completely down by November 1st to a population of about 500 locals.

Perry and I ended up being blessed, because before the summer season ended, we were offered free housing for the winter through his employer, if we painted some of the employee housing rooms, that were unoccupied all winter. Perry also picked up part time work, at the one and only little grocery store on island, which kept us fed.
Getting work on the island was next to impossible, if you didn’t know the right people. We were counting our blessings on how lucky we were.

We made it through the holidays, and by April 2018, Perry’s boss moved us to a bigger and nicer room and made him a supervisor.

I had found a retail job at a shop I liked even better, and we were ready for our second summer season.
Perry and I had another successful season, and up until October, we were planning on another frugal and long winter on the island, as that was again our best option at the time. It was an opportunity we would not pass up.
Then things changed for us again, due to politics and miscommunications. Without much warning at all, and even with a bit of money saved, two busy summers were not enough, to afford a life back on the mainland.
Once again, even with our inner-strength and faith still strong, we knew we were “up against a wall”.
So, with the saved money in pocket, we took a huge leap of faith and journeyed to Louisiana, with no jobs lined up, to stay with someone we had never met face to face, and only on Facebook. A good soul, with a kind heart willing to help us out. We have been staying with him over a few months now, and are honored to call him friend. Perry and I are forever grateful for his compassion, kindness and generosity.

In the couple of months that we have been here, we have found some work, however it has been anything but steady, and not for lack of motivation on our end.

We want to be in a position where we can start up our private chef business again someday. Until that day comes, we will utilize our skills by Volunteering on Permaculture Projects and also earning a small income by hiring ourselves out to Organic Farms, Intentional Communities, and other projects when necessary, as a means to continue traveling, volunteering and living a healthier, more sustainable life.

Perry has been laid off from the paint contractor he is working for, due to weather and work shortage. It was supposed to have been temporary, but days have turned into weeks.

We were only $87.00 away from having our Good Samaritan friend / temporary landlord paid in full, so that we could start saving towards our future goals.

Now, as of today we are falling deeper into debt, and even further from our goals, and need to have our friend/landlord paid back in full, and we desperately need to leave Louisiana.

We need to be in a region of the USA, where we can best make profitable use of our talents and skills.
I want it to be known that when Perry and I first decided to ask for help on here, we thought we were going to ask for quite a lot more, than what we are.

Due to an awe inspiring and unexpected act of kindness, we have been given a van (by a friend of Perry’s who resides in Indiana), in good running condition, and we need help getting there to take possession of the van, and convert it into our mobile living space.

Perry has also been offered a great job through yet another friend in Indiana, to help us out as we strive to get our van livable and travel ready.

So, I am asking any of you who are reading this, will you please help us “rise back up” in life?
Perry and I are in need of your donations to take a bus from Louisiana to Indiana to get our van.
We also need to have money to have our kitty Bastet shipped to Indiana, as Greyhound will not allow her on a bus with us. Shipping her to Indiana is our only other option.

We need to cover the cost of materials for converting our van into our tiny, traveling, living space, and also to help get us started on our journey, across the USA, to better opportunities.
The main costs we need to cover, are that of an insulated plywood floor, a mattress, bedding, carpeting or rugs, a top of the line cooler to keep perishables fresh, and a solar shower, for the conversion aspect.
For the repairs and maintenance aspect, some of these things include a tune-up and tires, and we also need to have it insured and registered.

Perry and I have been researching for the best locations to utilize our respective skills, live a healthy lifestyle, to be of service to others, as our way of “paying it forward”, and to learn to live a “greener” and more sustainable way of life.
Because Perry and I have been researching Permaculture and Organic Farming concepts as a means of more opportunities for work, volunteering and personal growth, it is our intention to take all of the knowledge gained from working on farms and projects, and incorporating that into our desire for a healthy lifestyle, while earning money to get back on our feet.

So in conclusion and for those reading this, I am asking you on behalf of my husband and myself, to please contribute to us today.

Please help us to thrive again, by helping us get back to earning a living, to be of service, and not a statistic.
With Gratitude-
Laura & Perry Manning

https://www.gofundme.com/will-you-help-us-keep-going