Please Read My Story & Donate With Empathy In Your Heart!!!

Thanks for coming to my page and reading my story. My name is Kenny (41) and I am here today reaching out with my son Zion (1). Today i am stepping forward swallowing my pride and pushing aside my ego. My story like others starts off with me beating the odds and going through so much in life and overcoming so many challenges. The past 16 years I have been blessed with working in law enforcement and serving the community by doing what I can to keep the citizens safe. I have always taken pride on being financially responsible, hard working, dedicated and committed to doing what I can to be a productive member of society. I have tried my best to work hard in life, I have never missed a day of work in 13 years. My upbringing has instilled in me to be responsible and to never make excuses. It’s extremely hard for me to ask for help and I rarely do. But right now I am in a position where I need as much help as possible because it's not just about me. Society has created a system that caters to a certain demographic of individuals. But often times others are left out, ignored, pushed to the side and not made a priority. To make a long story short, I have been battling depression, anxiety and just an immense amount of stress that is placed on my shoulders. I have been getting professional help with these issues and trying to stay strong. But as a father of 2 kids you don’t get time to take a break, lick your wounds and cope with problems. The woman I fell in love with left me recently, and in some ways it was a blessing in disguise because of all the physical, mental and emotional abuse I had to endure. Some people don’t realize that men going through abuse is a real issue and does exist as well. She abused me (as she has for some time), and filed false reports for untrue/fictitious protective orders. She did this to be manipulative, to control me (considering my fear of losing my job in law enforcement), to keep me away from my son (who is about to be one years old this week), and to use me to get her way. It has worked so much in the past because I felt stuck and defeated. Laws and statues are supposed to be fair and unbiased for both parents getting custody, providing for the children equally, etc. But sometimes these archaic laws don’t reflect anything fair. The local county laws actually state that a mother doesn’t have to work the first 2 years of the child’s life. Guess who has to carry the weight of the financial burden? The father (me). With me being the only one working, I am already struggling to pay bills, I have been digging a huge hole fighting false charges/protective orders, hiring attorneys for various custody issues, trying to stay afloat with bills of my own, paying a substantial amount in child support, trying to live my day to day life and just get by. I have never been in debt prior to recently. I only had one credit card that I would never use unless it was to keep the account active and my credit score positive. I live in a very small 2 bedroom apartment, no cable or internet, I don’t have any luxuries, etc. While my ex has been given free legal counsel via foundations throughout this process that caters to the needs of low income citizens. This empowers her to hide behind the resources that she is eligible for and makes her abuse the system and keep dragging me back to court over frivolous and false reasons, knowing I'll be paying out of pocket. Unfortunately I don’t qualify for any of these resources because I make too much to qualify for anything. But I literally take home less than $1,000 a month for 160 hours of work a month. But since my gross pay is too much to qualify for free legal assistance or other programs she is benefiting from such programs as food assistance (SNAP), help with housing, help with cash assistance, help with utilities, etc.  However, I’m not eligible for any of these programs or resources. If I try to work overtime or another job, that will dig me a bigger hole for child support payments I’ll be obligated to pay, so that’s not an option I can tap in to. Plus with my health issues of fighting depression and anxiety, It’s hard to work anymore than I am already working fulltime. The past couple years I have taken out a couple loans to just get by, to purchase a vehicle so I can have reliable transportation to and from work, legal representation, pay bills, etc. I have maxed out my one and only credit card I have. Now lenders don’t want to lend me anymore money because my net pay is not enough which is problematic to prove I’ll pay them back even though I have an okay credit history. So I’m in a catch 22,  I’m trying to help myself and just trying to fight for custody of my son so he can avoid being in a cycle of abuse I was around. I also need help because of the mounting debt, my day to day bills, trying to hold on to my vehicle that I need to get around and for my job. I have two kids I must provide for, and with financial backing and some help I would love to have more stability in my life. I would love to pay off all my debt to get that extra burden off my back and have breathing room. I also have attorney fees I have to pay off, I need to have enough put to the side to pay for pending and upcoming legal representation, pay off my vehicle, etc. I have been on the verge of getting evicted as I have struggled to pay rent. I would love to have my rent paid for the foreseeable future or be able to purchase a home and not have to worry about where I will be living and trying to have a safe, clean environment for my kids. This is new to me and anyone that knows me personally know I have always been a positive, optimistic, see the glass as half full, always wearing a smile no matter what, never one to complain, not one to make excuses, and takes pride on being financially responsible in life. But, as life happens, sometimes you are thrown a curveball or dealt a bad hand of unfortunate circumstances. With that being said, I am begging and pleading for any financial assistance you can help me with. If you can find it in your heart to be understanding, empathetic and compassionate for my story not only on my behalf but on behalf of my son I love dearly. I've always been one to help others my whole life, having a never quit mentality and never giving up. It has been hard and some days I feel like I’m losing the battle to fight. Please help me turn things around, and even though financial help won’t solve all my problems, it would certainly help a great deal. I wrote this with 100% honesty, transparency, humbleness and sadly with a broken heart. I thank you, because any and all help means the world to me. Thank you for your time reading this, any donations you can help me with, and if you can share my story with others and compel them to help as well I would greatly appreciate it. Have a nice day and thanks once again on behalf of myself and Zion.