A New Call for Help for Maxwell Graf

Maxwell Graf’s shop on the Rustica sim. Click on the image for its full-size version.

UPDATE: We have great news. The donations to Max’s GoFundMe, along with contributions via PayPal have reached the desired goal. Now Max and Lyyric have a home. Many thanks go to everyone who donated and amplified his call for help.

Back in 2017, beloved and esteemed Second Life content creator Max Graf (Timothy Jackson in RL) of Rustica fame (marketplace store, in-world landmark, blog) needed our help, as he and his wife, Cheryl (Lyyric Fei in SL) became homeless. A campaign to help them was started, which escalated to the touching #ForMax shopping event that was set up very quickly by a considerably-sized and considerate group of fellow content creators and merchants. The campaign was a success: Max and Lyyric managed to settle in a new place, found jobs, and started their life anew.

Sadly, in the “free market” economy if you don’t own your home, you can lose it if your landlord finds something more profitable to do with it. So, the owner of the place where they lived decided to sell it to an “investor” who’s about to turn the property back to a commercial building, so Max and Lyyric need to leave very soon. They’ve been searching far and wide, but housing is both (artificially – thank you, “investors”) scarce and expensive.

They eventually found a place that they can move to. It’s nothing fancy, and it’ll certainly need some work. However, as I wrote earlier, even this is more expensive than what they have. So, Max has started a GoFundMe campaign (disclosing his RL name in the process) to raise the remaining money that’s needed for them to secure it. There’s not much time, and – unfortunately – they don’t have many options.

What I’m asking of you all is to help in any way you can. You can contribute directly on the GoFundMe campaign. You can purchase stuff at his in-world or marketplace store – even if you don’t “need” it. After all, we buy lots of stuff we don’t need in SL (which itself is a non-essential expenditure for those of us who aren’t making a living out of our in-world activities). You can spread the word by sharing this post, by sharing Max’s plurk where he made his campaign known, by blogging about it, by rallying people on the official and unofficial SL forums to help. Below, I’m reposting what Max wrote on his GoFundMe campaign’s description:

I (54) and my wife Cheryl (63) are trying to cover the down payment & closing costs on the mobile home above, to start our lives over again. First, why this situation is so dire for us that we felt the need to ask for your help:

• In 2017 we lived in Washington state and lost our home and all our possessions in a disaster.
• We lived in our truck for several months, not finding anywhere that would rent to us as we drove across the USA to start our lives over again.
• 3500 miles away in North Carolina we found an old brick diner downtown which I was able to convert to residential use. The owner agreed to a month to month handshake deal, no lease.
• I got a job at Lowes. Cheryl got hired at the local Hospital where she has worked on the front lines during all of the covid 19 pandemic.
• In 2018 she was in a head-on car accident on the way to work which almost killed her. She survived through several surgeries and continues to have nerve and minor brain damage as a result. She falls over a lot now. For many months I drove her to work and back while also continuing to work my job.
• We worked on and improved our credit scores, sold both of our owned vehicles and purchased older ones, putting the difference into an account for a down payment on a home.
• We were approved for a home loan and began putting out offers in the area we could afford.
• Then, disaster: In August we were told the row of buildings we are in was purchased by an investor who has informed us that he is converting our home back to a commercial property; we must vacate the premises soon.

 We just had an offer accepted this week on the mobile home you see in the picture, our lender approved it but today we found out our total costs to go into contract are about twice what we have in our savings account. We have not been able to find housing close enough to let her keep her job, renting or buying, until this one. We are so close to having some stability. We need your help desperately to be able to keep from becoming homeless again. Please fund us if you can.

So, again, I’m calling on all of you to help Max – like you did before.

Links:

• Max’s GoFundMe campaign
• Max’s plurk

Can we extend a little more help for Max, guys? What do you think?

Maxwell Graf’s shop on the Rustica sim. Click on the image for its full-size version.

Way back in late September, I blogged about the #ForMax initiative instigated by Charlotte Bartlett (of Scarlet Creative fame), Sophia Harlow, and Blazin Aubret to help out esteemed SL content creator, tinkerer, and all-around great guy Maxwell Graf (proprietor of Rustica – marketplace store, in-world landmark, blog), who, along with his wife (her SL name is Lyyric Fei), found himself looking for a place to stay. The initiative took the form of a week-long shopping event on a sim graciously provided by award-winning SL architect Apple Fall, and raised more than L$1,000,000. Max and Lyyric have since found a new place to call home, an old building that used to be a cafeteria of sorts. It still needs a lot of work, as it had remained unused for quite some time. Winter is coming, and the snow is piling up. Max and Lyyric’s new residence still lacks central heating, as they haven’t been able to afford to have it checked, serviced and connected. As he mentioned in the comments of this plurk, they do have a couple of space heaters, but honestly, I don’t consider them to be a match for the sub-zero temperatures expected.

ForMax – 3 October through 10 October

I know from personal experience very well what it’s like to try to put up with harsh winters and a shortage of funds caused by external factors over which you had absolutely no control. Being Greek and living through the recession and the sadistic EU-imposed austerity, I’ve gotten sadly accustomed to seeing main streets littered with homeless, impoverished people who once belonged to the middle class and have now been utterly destroyed; what’s happened here makes me angry at our “civilised” world which demonises the less fortunate with disgusting, misanthropic notions like “moral hazard”. The suffering so gleefully dished out at innocent people who were scapegoated for the white-collar crime that’s so lucrative for certain fiscal disciplinarians makes me ashamed of our species. I wouldn’t want anyone to be put through such an ordeal, and I try to help those in need as best I can in RL, with my limited resources and means.

I know we’ve already done something rather big, by SL standards, for Max. But, as I said, he’s got a winter ahead, and there’s no central heating in his residence at the moment. I would like to call upon all of my readers and fellow SLers to continue shopping at his store. He’s got some seriously good stuff in there that’ll grace any medieval-, rustic-, retro-, or steampunk-themed build – in fact, I’m sure many other build styles can be served very well by his products. Please note that Max himself hasn’t requested anything. I’m doing this simply because I want to help him out and because I’ve faced similarly hard circumstances in RL. So, please continue supporting him with your patronage. It’s going to be money well-spent: You’ll be getting some excellent products for your SL homes, and you’ll be helping a great person.

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Shortlink: https://wp.me/p2pUmX-T3

Going To The Max for Maxwell Graf: Over One Million L$ Raised

ForMax – 3 October through 10 October; over L$1,000,000 raised to assist Max and Lyyric

Tuesday was the final day of the #ForMax event, which was organised in an amazingly short time by Charlotte Bartlett, Sophia Harlow, and Blazin Aubret to raise as much money as possible to help Maxwell Graf, one of the most highly-respected SL content creator, and his RL wife, Lyyric Fei. Max and Lyyric found themselves suddenly in an appalling, heart-breaking situation that rendered them homeless through the callous and selfish behaviour of other parties. Award-winning SL architect Apple Fall and the organisers of the Shiny Shabby event also offered generous assistance; Apple Fall donated his sim, and Shiny Shabby offered the booths for the event.

Going To The Max for Maxwell Graf – An Update

The current flyer for the “Going To The Max” event in support for Maxwell Graf and Lyyric Fei. As always, click on the image for the full-size version (opens in a new window).

The “Going To The Max” initiative to support Maxwell Graf through the ordeal he and his wife (Lyyric Fei) are going through (which he detailed here) is gaining momentum by the hour. The organising team consists of three people now: Charlotte Bartlett, Sophia Harlow, and Blazin Aubret. More and more talented content creators are joining the cause every hour. As has already been mentioned in my previous posts on the matter, the event will take place between 3 October 2017 and 10 October 2017 on a region sponsored by Callie Cline, and the location will be determined soon. The organisers of Shiny Shabby have graciously donated the booth that will be used by merchants on the event. The event will not be only about shopping; there will also be raffles, live music and other happenings, and there is also a Facebook page for it. You can also follow the hashtag #ForMax on social media favoured by SL users. In the meantime, you can help out by shopping at Max’s stores, both in-world at his Rustica sim, and on the SL marketplace. I can personally vouch for the quality and style of his wares.

Maxwell Graf’s shop on the Rustica sim. Click on the image for its full-size version.

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Shortlink: http://wp.me/p2pUmX-S5

A Call for Help for Maxwell Graf

Maxwell Graf’s shop on the Rustica sim. Click on the images for their full-size version.

Maxwell Graf is one of the most talented and respected content creators in Second Life, and, from what I’ve seen in his Plurk timeline, he’s also been an early adopter of the new virtual worlds that will duke it out for a piece of the market in the coming years. He has become known for his brand Rustica (marketplace store, in-world landmark, blog) through which he sells very well-made houses and furniture, with many of them being of a medieval theme.