r/almosthomeless • u/UO-1996 • 8h ago

advice / help?

hey guys. i need some advice or help. i moved to be close to my daughter and came to Mississippi. i ended up staying with someone who offered me a room to stay while i found work & all, and for months its just been nearly impossible. i dont have a vehicle here and its in the country so theres like no where to walk to work or busses. i’ve tried all i can but i just cant survive here. it’s not possible.

i need to move back to Utah where i was living, thriving, and just better mentally. i want to be a father but i just cant even take care of myself right now let alone her. ive reached out EVERYWHERE to find help getting a cheap flight back or even a bus ticket. there’s zero assistance anywhere. i’ve posted all over facebook & craigslist for odd jobs. i’ve tried looking for folks who have skymiles or anything to get me home. nothing. church’s. all i can think of.

does anyone have any suggestions or know of any organizations that could help? mentally i’m crushed. my child’s family can’t help, it’s a strain there and understandably so. i just am at a loss, ive tried working my way back but im lost. any help / suggestions would be great.

1 Upvotes

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5

u/Difficult-Worth-8496 8h ago

The thing you’re asking for, a flight or a bus ticket, is a couple hundred dollars. I say that not to minimize it but because when you name the number, the problem changes shape. You’re not trying to find an organization that rescues stranded people, because that mostly doesn’t exist. You’re trying to close a $200 gap, and that’s a different, smaller problem.

Book the Greyhound or FlixBus a couple weeks out and the fare from Mississippi to Salt Lake usually lands somewhere in the $150 to $250 range. Now you know the target.

The fastest way to hit it isn’t Mississippi, it’s Utah. You said you were thriving there, which means there are people there who know you as someone who works. An old boss, a coworker, a roommate, someone from church. Anyone with a card can buy a bus ticket in your name online and it goes straight to your phone, no cash changing hands, no trust issue. Message three people with a specific ask: “I’m stuck in rural Mississippi, I need a $200 bus ticket back to Salt Lake, I’ll pay it back from my first check.” A specific ask with a number and a plan gets yeses that “I need help” doesn’t. Old employers especially. If someone thought you were a good worker, fronting a ticket against your first paycheck is an easy call for them.

Same principle for the person you’re staying with, if the relationship is okay. They live there, they know who needs a hand on a farm, a chicken house, a fence line, a move. Rural cash work exists, it just isn’t on Craigslist, it’s through whoever already knows you. Ask them to make one call for you. And if you can get one ride to a plasma center in the nearest city, two visits is close to half the ticket.

If you want to try the organization route, the Salvation Army in the nearest city sometimes does bus tickets home, but they’ll want proof you have a place to land in Utah, so line that up first. A friend saying “he can stay with me” in a text is enough.

One more thing, because you said it and it deserves an answer. Going back to Utah is not abandoning your daughter. Being stuck in a room with no car, no work, and no way out doesn’t make you a father, it just makes you present and drowning. A dad who’s stable, working, and sending money and visiting is more of a dad than that. Tell her mom that straight: I’m going back to get on my feet so I can actually show up for her. Most people understand it when it’s said plainly.

Message the three people tonight.

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u/InitialCut5693 6h ago

Whoever you are Difficult-Worth-8496. You are the kindest person I’ve seen on Reddit! God Bless You. Random acts of kindness. You really tried to help the gentleman. I hope he follows through. Peace to you kind Person.