Goal: $2,000. Please, just one last nudge over that hill

Dear friends and supports,

I come to you the last time with an urgent request for financial assistance.

And I mean last time.

I start work as a sixth grade teacher at May Goodrell Middle School in Des Moines on Aug. 11.

I would have never gotten this far without the help all of you have provided.

I lost my job at the big, local newspaper during the pandemic. I tried, but I knew there was no future for me in digital journalism.

I decided to go back to graduate school and become a teacher.

But I tore the meniscus in my left knee. My beloved friend Mary Hoover helped me raise money for the surgery and help with food, rent, and other necessities.

I survived the surgery, but arthritis in both knees requires I now use a walker. I am learning to live with this disability and ask for necessary accommodation when necessary. It is a bigger challenge to overcome my meaningless pride than it is to receive accommodation.

Since then, I’ve kept a delicate — if sometimes desperate — the balance between judicious and proper use of student loan money and your donations.

I made it through student teaching. I’ve worked part-time for a small county newspaper owned by a kind man. He pays me what he can, but he faces the same forces that threaten to tip all journalism, from the largest outlet to the smallest.

My pain-filled legs make many part-time jobs impossible.

But soon I will be back in the workforce in full. I will be teaching reading and writing to the next generation.

First, I’ve got to get through all the big bills one more time: rent, insurance, utilities, and so on.

I’ve come to you many times. You’ve always answered the call. I come this one last time. Help crest this final hill.

What you’ve done for me as a collective can never truly be repaid.

I promise to learn every day, to teach with love, dignity, and respect, and to pass on the grace and charity you have shown me.

I’m looking to raise $2,000. The majority of that covers two months’ rent, utilities, and insurance. I don’t get paid until the middle of September.

Any contribution helps.

Bless each of you, from close friends and family members to total strangers who know me only through my writing.

You are the grace our society needs.

My God bless and keep you.

Daniel P. Finney

Post: 1217 24th St., Apt. 36, Des Moines, 50311.
Zelle: newsmanone@gmail.com.
Venmo: @newsmanone.
PayPal: PayPal.me/paragraphstacker.

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