But I will say this- not everyone who accepts money from a fund raiser is some prideless, lazy, POS as some comments here seem to imply.
I lost my home in 1999, long before social media and it was actually the Fire Dept. who started the fundraiser for me at a local bank. I was 30 years old, with 4 kids ages 11, 10, 2, and 1. I worked two jobs. I then spent 9 months 70 miles away from my kids in a burn unit, another 2 in a local rehab for daily OT/PT, and was still unable to work for a year after that. I was beyond grateful for the money to live on while I recovered. Clothing, toys, household items for myself and my kids, and I still am.
I realize Lauren is counting on this being her ticket to a fresh life and new start, but for others like myself, who didnt ask for help and wasnt expecting it, it was a true blessing, and doesnt make me any less of a "hard worker" or a crappy person for accepting what was so graciously given. Thats such an ugly attitude to have.
(not you flower- just some others who seem to have less than a charitable spirit lol)
Such an important point.
It's hard when the snark gets out of hand and starts to head down the path of cruelty for cruelty's sake.
Stick with me here. Long, but related, post warning.
When I went back to college as a "mature student" (over 30) I went with the goal of gaining a degree in social sciences-urban studies focusing on bringing edible green spaces & working gardens to food deserts. Basically I wanted to work with and build programs that bring small farms and the distribution of such to under-served urban areas. I had to take 3 basic courses due to how my previous college credits transferred - one of those was English 102. Never mind ENG341H and whatnot that did transfer; ENG102 didn't. So I had to take ENG102H, and the professor I wound up with was feared for the amount of writing expected in his class. You could write about any topic, but you'd damn well better produce impeccably formatted and sourced minimum-5000 word expository, narrative, argumentative, and, as the final, research essays.
Just for fun I decided to write my research essay on the history of internet trolling from Usenet to then-present day with an exploration of the types of people who participate in trolling. Since I knocked out all those basic classes first semester I wasn't overburdened by other courses and the research final turned into 23,000 words because the topic became
fascinating to me.
It's where I really started learning about why people act the way they do online, and how they communicate both positively and negatively. It became my degrees' focus and my career.
There are a lot of reasons people act badly online.
What's more interesting, in an academic sense, is that acting badly online is contagious. Even the "best" people get caught up in what seems like harmless, jokey trolling and it spirals into actual harmful behavior. The cruelty of the communication itself is what becomes fun.
I got my degrees - got my paper and I was free, to quote a song. I had a plan. I could do anything. I'd finished an intense honors degree with a preschooler and a toddler. I'd written hundreds of thousands of words while navigating Early Intervention and referrals and waitlists and screenings and ADOS and hello autism diagnosis for the little one. I worked on my thesis until 11:58pm, tweaking a word here and there, on the night it was due while waiting for my older child's ADOS results.
I was ready to go and then my little one was in an ambulance, was in the PICU, and everything fell apart.
My bestie's fundraiser kept me afloat, made sure the kids had food and Christmas presents. No shame.
Lauren, the person, needs a fundraiser. Anyone in her situation does. Her lack of renter's insurance, her vlogging her kids, none of that takes away from the fact that she's a human being and there are two innocent children involved as well.
These are things sometimes forgotten when snark spirals out of control into cruelty.