Help me please!

LaurenAlixandra · Post by **LaurenAlixandra** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 9:25 am

Hello beautiful burningman community of the world!

I have encountered some financial hardships over the last couple months (more on this later) so I decided that I needed to reach out to my community and seek help.

Here's the scope:

I have been in some heavy debt since the fall last year. The reason why I went into debt is because I spent all my money volunteering in Thailand at an orphanage (called "Foundation for Children") and was in India when the tsunami hit, so then spent weeks volunteering for the relief work. I got to play with beautiful thai babies four days a week just outside of bangkok. I spent time teaching them, singing to them, playing with them, showering them, and just giving them nurturing maternal energy. In India, I helped build houses, distribute relief supplies, as well as organize donations back home to go to the group I was working with (www.auroville.com).

Now that I've come back, I have been trying to pay off the rest of my debt (which, thank god, is only like $600 now!) and have not been able to put any of my money into savings. Not only are my bank accounts cleaned out, but my life is literally paycheck to paycheck. Naturally, I do not have the money to go to the burn.

This year is very special for me because I have some of my best friends are going for their last out of like seven years . . . I feel like I need to have this experience in my life right now, and I am hoping someone can help.

In my life, I am an energy radiator. I am a bouncy girl who spends my time at burning man volunteering with the heebeegeebee healers, and doing performances, and helping spread love to those "yahoos" that so many people outcast.

if anyone can help me in anyway whatsoever (Literally, .25 in an envelope is such a gift) I will be so indebted to this community (well, I already am because of the massive amounts of love and beauty and light I get to have in my life).

you can send any donations of any size to:

Rockley Music Center
Miss Lauren Alixandra
c/o Chris Thomas
8555 W. Colfax Ave.
Lakewood, CO 80215

(this email is to my dad! )

you can also contact me at lauren_alixandra @ yahoo.com if you want to talk to me more about anything!!

thanks you all and much love to you!
-miss lauren alixandra

gawul · Post by **gawul** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 9:39 am

best wishes, but i'm also financially challenged this year. one thing you can do is see if there are any low-income tickets left. my sister was able to get one (she's disabled and with a very limited income) . seems like you would also qualify for one

another thing to try is to make a free website with yahoo, asking for help getting to burning man. have a paypal link on it and email the link of your site to every single person you know.

i did this in '03 after i'd ruptured my achilles tendon and had been off work for 10 months. i was able to raise over $400 from friends and family. little bits here and there. wish i'd known of the low-income tickets that year

anyway, hope that helps. wish i could do more
gawul

Badger · Post by **Badger** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 5:26 pm

Maybe start a beggar's thread?

Badger · Post by **Badger** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 5:28 pm

Radical panhandling?

LaurenAlixandra · Post by **LaurenAlixandra** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 9:14 am

In response to the low income tickets, I have been offered a ticket from a friend for $150 which is $5 more than the low income, but it will allow me to pay when I am able . . .

I am pretty computer illiterate, so I am not sure how I would make a yahoo site . . . . ??? It sounds like a great idea, can you give me brief instructions so I can attempt to figure it out?

love love love lauren

LaurenAlixandra · Post by **LaurenAlixandra** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 9:16 am

what's a beggar's thread?

ha! radical panhandling would be a riot. I could get dressed in some crazy ass costume and have some silly sign!

-love love love lauren

gawul · Post by **gawul** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 9:30 am

i am not computer saavy at all

if you go to yahoo, and have a yahoo account, go to yahoo's main page.

you'll see a list of their services, and click on the one called GEOCITIES

in there you can make your own website. it's easy and only takes a few minutes....well it took me maybe 30 minutes, but i'm slow and was nervous. i never did figure out how to put my site on the yahoo pages so anyone could see it, but after i made my page (they have wizards to help) i just emailed the link to everyone and i mean everyone i knew

oh yeah, add a paypal link. that was free too. i dont remember how i did it tho.

hope that helps
g

gawul · Post by **gawul** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 9:46 am

when you get your site up, post a link here. i can donate a bit

nocturnal_steve · Post by **nocturnal_steve** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 7:44 pm

> You wrote : This year is very special for me because I have some of my best friends are going for their last out of like seven years

Uhh .. couldn't help but wonder how do your friends know this will be their
last burn ? Have they planned the rest of their lives already ? Are they helping you with finances ?

LaurenAlixandra · Post by **LaurenAlixandra** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 10:06 pm

Now, I cannot say for absolute certain that my old veteran friends will never in their lives go to the playa again, but I do know that they say they are ready to move on to different things. A lot of them are looking at other exciting ways to spend a lot of money i.e. traveling and such and most of them do not feel it is so important to go again.

so who knows, right? There is nothing in this world that is absolutly certain, so they very well might go to the playa again, but with some of them, I think it is quite unlikely (I am talking about some serious veterans; one of my friends has been to every year except the very first one!! She used to live right by baker beach:)

love love love lauren

LaurenAlixandra · Post by **LaurenAlixandra** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 12:19 am

So, I am not so computer savvy, but I got a basic website started. THE LINK TO PAYPAL IS NOT YET WORKING!! I cannot figure it out yet, and I am going to have to wait till tomorrow to give it another go.

But for now, you can see a few photos of me in India and Thailand! They are fun and you can see the little orphan babies. They are so precious!

Thanks guys!
-Lauren

LaurenAlixandra · Post by **LaurenAlixandra** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 12:20 am

Oh yeah, and the website is:

http://www.geocities.com/lauren_alixandra

love lauren

gawul · Post by **gawul** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 6:42 am

good job on the website!

get that paypal link working tho! :)

nice pic's. beautiful kids. what an experience that must have been. is this something you do as a career?

g

LaurenAlixandra · Post by **LaurenAlixandra** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 3:37 pm

My house was robbed on Tuesday, so I am not going to be able to respond to posts for quite a while. Our computer was stolen, as was much of everything else. I am in even more need of donations now . . . .

thanks for your support-
lauren alixandra

LaurenAlixandra · Post by **LaurenAlixandra** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 11:38 pm

Last year at this time- it was all crazy CRAZY CRAZY! Guess what, this year is pretty hectic as well. life is beautiful like that- unpredictable.

Not sure if anyone will ever read this, but I thought I would update my last post (sort of depressing note I left off on).

I was gifted a bm ticket last year. I camped in a very simple, low income sort of way- and HAD A BEAUTIFUL YEAR!! Thank you to everyone who was concerned and loving and considerate.

My parents had been contemplating moving for a long time when our house was robbed and about 15,000 dollars worth of stuff was stolen, including about 8 guitars, one of which was a blue rickenbaugher (spelled wrong I think) that my parents COLLECTED CANS to buy when they were young and poor. But it was time for change, and they just sold their house and have moved on to new amazing things.

as for me, my money situation settled down, and I got the opportunity to travel internationally again.

Two months ago, I moved to Los Angeles from Denver CO. I am in pursuit of artistic dreams, and the city has been intense and inspiring.

My mother and I just decided today that we are going to burning man again this year, and we are sooooo excited to get back to the playa.

thanks again for everyone who supported me in a dark period of my life. this community is really my family.

love love love
lauren alixandra

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 12:05 am

Wow... good times!!!

Token · Post by **Token** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 12:14 am

Wow, let me do some figuring here...

You are in LA ...

... Thinking ...

… Please Wait ...

... Computing ...

OK, here goes:

Go to the thousands of Starbucks in LA and fill out some employment applications. I know, you already have a job but I'm sure such a "bouncy girl" can put in some after work 4 hour shifts to fund her BRC trip. So, lets say you have 5 weeks of productive time, figuring you spend next week looking for an opening, and they pay $8 per hour ...

5 Weeks, 5 days a week, 4 hour shifts ... 5 (weeks) x 5 (days) x 4 (hours) x $8 = $800.

Lets say my uncle and Arnie take 30% (heck, set those exemptions really high, pay tax next year) ...

$800 - $240 = $560

This is more than enough to finance the basic survival needs for BRC, especially since you are only spending $150 for the ticket.

… Or you can continue with the pan-handling hustle, but the coffee slinging route is probably more reliable, plus the riches of the tip jar which are pure proffit.

Post by **AntiM** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 6:02 am

Is aluminium still recycling high in CA? When we lived in San Diego ten years ago, larry and I hit our condo dumpsters and came away with at least $50 every week-end. I think aluminium was a buck a pound or so. And we were both employed and knew nothing about burning man, we just liked dumpster diving. We even took all the good trash to the flea market one time, paid $25 for a spot, and took in $1200.

Of course, you have to find dumpsters undefended by shank-wielding homeless guys. Not kidding.

sadly, cans recycle for 30 cents a pound here.

ibdave · Post by **ibdave** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 9:31 am

AntiM wrote:Is aluminium still recycling high in CA? I think aluminium was a buck a pound or so.

AntiM, Here in Modesto Ca. were getting $1.50 lbs.. It makes it hard to just toss the can into the can..We turn the cans into trip monies for the kids..

Post by **AntiM** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 12:12 pm

Wow, that's pretty good. Aluminium is bad enough here, but the plastics go into the city recycle bins, no money there, we have to pay them for our recycle bin. And there is no glass recycling facility in Utah; it just goes into the landfills.

blyslv · Post by **blyslv** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 9:27 am

I voluntered for 2 years (internationally - please cue trill of angels).

Where's my fucking gift?

we0ne · Post by **we0ne** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 9:31 pm

Glad to see things have turned around for you Laura. Good luck in L.A.

Help me please!

Help me please!

last year at the burn

My website!

I'm a dork!

Ha! The irony of life.

What a year!!!