Fundraiser for Family

I'm trying to raise about a $500 for my surrogate family for me to fix their ceiling. A little backstory: when I was 14 I had a change of legal guardianship to this surrogate family, the Pappal's. It wasn't an adoption or foster care, but they were legally responsible for me, and I lived with them for several years. 

They have 3 boys and 1 girl (that I consider my brothers and sister), and then me thrown into the mix at a young age. Mr.Pappal is a science/math teacher at a local high school, and Mrs.Pappal now works at a daycare (we're actually trying to get Hero in). The house I lived in was a pretty small 3 bed, 2 bath. The 3 boys and I all lived in the same room. 

Well, they put up with a lot dealing with adolescent Holden, but they never stopped loving me, encouraging me, and were in my life in one of the more vulnerable times in my life. Literally a separate family taking me in when they already had really young children (the girl, Rianna, was only 2 weeks old at the time). 

Benji and Amy (Pappal) were at my wedding, and Amy was who I danced with during the mother/son dance. Off camera, I've been primarily taking care of their yard work while they work during the day, I got them a riding lawn mower for those times when I can't do it, I planted Amy a small garden, and am trying to fix up things here and there in the very dated house. 

Well, there was a storm a while back that caused some ceiling damage that has now been repaired, but they haven't been able to get the ceiling fixed because of the cost. (I'm also trying to repair a portion of their fence). 

So anyway! I'm planning to do all the repairs myself, and am just trying to raise a little more for the actual materials. I've already bought several pieces of equipment that I'll need for both their ceiling and fence. I won't be making any money off it. Jen will be helping me, and Matt has also offered to help and we'll be making a video of the whole thing! 

I'll also be a little more direct about how we handle money, because that's usually sensitive, but in the name of transparency, I'll let you guys know how it's all handled. We make the vast majority of our income from Patreon. When I say you guys put a roof over our heads, it's not hyperbolic. 

We put around 30% of everything we make aside for taxes since Patreon doesn't take anything out. I got burned REAL hard my first "successful" year because I didn't know how taxes worked outside of traditional W2's. 

We pay Devin a full time salary which is a fairly large expense, but he's so invaluable with editing, VFX, etc. You know Devin! We also have a few other editors and general video expenses that I use as-needed. Things like music license in all the videos, licenses for different softwares that are monthly, etc. Our son Fox is special needs and has weekly appointments and that's a convo for a different time, but it gets expensive. And then what's left is our basic expenses for our home, bills, etc. 

So we get by! But we're not Mr.Beast. I usually will do it on my own like with buying the lawn mower for them, but I'd really like to get this taken care of for them. 

But not for nothing! Jen and I just started Cameo now (@HoldenHardman and @JenniferHardman), I could sell a few of my 3D prints I've made and painted (but I'll need to get permission from the model makers), I could send some hand written cards to some of you guys, maybe a livestream for just the people helping out? If any of that sounds good, shoot me a PayPal with a message of what you'd like and I'll see about fulfilling it for you (holdenthardman@gmail.com) or get a video message on Cameo! I'm just starting it so I'm curious to see how it works out. 

I'm open to ideas! In the repair video, I'll also shout out anyone that helps out. If by some chance, I raise more than what I'm asking, I'll do some other type of repairs or "glow up" or whatever the kids are calling it these days. I won't pocket any of it. 

Thanks for reading my novel!