Tim’s reply: Jerome is beyond excited.  He is so grateful to you and Embrace for helping him out of a tough situation.  I told him that Embrace gives a hand up but not a handout. He said that’s all he wants. He passed a video interview yesterday and today he’s taking a typing and computer test with a Temp to hire agency.  

I’m hoping he can get on with State Farm, as another option.  The response from the Facebook ad was very helpful for him and many people had very good job search ideas that he is pursuing hard.

I asked him what he would do with $1000. I explained that nobody’s going to give him cash, he was absolutely fine with that and understood why. He said he would: Pay two weeks of the hotel where he is staying at $320/week. Buy a few groceries since he now has a little fridge and microwave. Buy some used clothes so he looks better in his interviews. Buy gas for his VW. The timing is very good for the hotel, because today he is out at noon. The week that we paid for ends today at noon. How would you like to do this? I can give you the link to the hotel. It’s not on Hotels.com.  ($54/night). It’s a bit of a hassle to pay with a credit card to this hotel since it’s a low income hotel they verify the credit card.  If you want me to do it and Embrace reimburse me, that’s fine. But maybe there are strict regulations for foundations about donations being paid directly to organizations and not reimbursing friends.  Whatever is easiest for you. I did not mention to him about potentially being on your site for an ongoing collection. Let’s see how he does. He may need some education. A computer class or something but let’s keep the onus for his success on him.