Money does not grow on trees. Even though it grows on trees since it comes paper which comes from trees. 
Fundraising is increasingly more and more difficult in current times. And right now, that is what I am having to do for my sledge hockey team. The team has gone through a lot of super highs and super lows. Especially through last season.
Last week, I set up an account on a fundraising website. The funds raised are going towards getting myself some brand new equipment (Sled, sticks, etc.) since most of these things are loaned to me. And I feel that if something should happen to the team that the program is gone, I would not be able to keep up with the sport on my own. And to be honest, with all the things that happened last season- it was a real fear for me that it would happen. After we lost our ice, the only time we ever got back on it was when we hit the road.
The site began off with a surprising BANG. It received four donations within the first 24 hours. But since that time it has not received another donation. And I believe that’s just the way it goes. I was totally shocked of learning that I had what I had in the first place. I didn’t think that I would receive the first donation for a month. And in reality, I received the first in one hour!
Fundraising is all about who you know. And with that, brings me to the meat and potatoes of this blog post.
In 2009, the whole world was introduced to a woman who later would be known as “Octomom”. This woman from southern California was pregnant with octuplets. It was truly a wonder to behold that someone was carrying that many children in her womb. People reached out and she nearly became an overnight sensation.
She now has a total of 14 children. All of them were born through IVF.
Last night, as I was looking at the website in general, I saw a fundraising campaign that had the name of “Octomom” with it. I took a look at it and what did my eyes behold…. a fundraising campaign for her to pay for a new house for her children. Her goal is $150,000.
It stumped me. I was completely floored.
What happened to her? What happened to all of the fortune and fame that she has been receiving in the past three years?? What’s been going on with the children???
At first, I thought that this was a scam. But as I investigated further I would realize that there was a chance that this was for real.
This morning, I received that confirmation as I went and searched for her. At the top of the search results were articles about how she posted on a fundraising site to get money for a new home. It’s REAL!
I became more baffled as I would also find that she filed for bankruptcy because she owes nearly $1 MILLION in debt. And part of that is $30,000 in back rent on the house that she was living in. NOW, that that house has been foreclosed on.
How in the world does a woman who receives overnight celebrity status suddenly owe that much money? And what in the world has she been doing with all that fortune and fame over the past several years?
The last bit of news that I actually paid attention to, she was stripping in clubs. She’s put out a music single. And she got paid to do a semi-nude photo shoot to go along with an interview for a British magazine. Although she did decline a million dollar offer to do a porn film. However, Wicked Productions has worked with her on a solo/masturbatory film, which has yet to be released.
What happened to all of that money? Why aren’t the bills being paid??
And is there anyone in the world that is thinking the same thing that I am at this point… that she rode the celebrity party train until it derailed, rather than doing the right thing for her children?
I will say this: I do not put ANY of this on her children. She had eight children at once, which is a bit of a fascinating medical miracle. They are the first set of octuplets to have survived their infancy in history. And yes, I believed that at the time of their births, she was going to need all the help she could get. She went from six children to 14.
What drives me batty is the fact that she went through IVF treatments in Beverly Hills, California. She’s a single mother of all these children, and the fact that she remains a recipient of food stamps and Social Security disability. Even through all of the things that she received from strangers worldwide, the different deals she was given to make money…. now you are trying to tell me that she is broke and thrown out of her house and begging for money on a fundraising website?
These children didn’t ask for this!
And so the conniption fit ensues.
My opinion is that she became this well-known mother of many children, was in our faces for days and weeks back in 2009, and yes- thankfully, these children survived. But through all of the things that she was given or offered which gave her fortune and fame, she’s broke. Filed bankruptcy. And my opinion is that she totally couldn’t handle it and pissed it all away.
Let me repeat that fundraising is all about who you know. EVERYONE knows “Octomom”. But not everyone knows ME.
And that is the difference that she has received (at last check) $1,787 out of her $150,000 goal in the first 3 days. Meanwhile, I am still steady with the four donations that I have received in six days. And those four people who did donate have been personally given my words of appreciation.
I do not know what kind of mother she is to her 14 children. Neither do I know the full extent of her situation. I do not know what it is like for her behind closed doors. It just appears on the surface that she is back in the news because she’s experiencing rough times because of her own decisions and receiving the consequences. And quite possibly, biting into the vein of charity because of it. So yeah, I am admitting that there is a chance that I am 100% wrong about all of this.
And ending on a personal note: Thank you to my wonderful friend Lisa, who allowed me to get out the initial venting and frustration about all of this very late last night. The conniption fit here in this blog post probably would have been a lot worse if I had not got some of this out. I do apologize for drawing first blood on the F-bomb.
Dambreaker 