*UPDATE*   OUR FAMILY IS FINALLY ON OUR WAY OUT OF THE WHOLE WE HAVE BEEN IN FOR SO VERY LONG. PLEASE CONTINUE TO BE IN PRAYER FOR US, THAT GOD WILL CONTINUE TO BLESS US AS HE HAS DONE THE LAST THREE MONTHS.

GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME!!!!

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our family is living on "A Wing and a Prayer" right now and our Prayer is that the items we list on our web sites and on Ebay will answer our Prayers. Our story is below...

We are Dan and Carmella Dunkin, we have 8 children (3 still at home) one of which is disabled, (Autism), and we are both partially disabled. We work many different venues to create an income to support our family, and have decided to try selling on Ebay once again and on our web sites to help make ends meet.

We sold antiques and collectibles on Ebay years ago until Dan injured his back and could no longer do all the driving to sales and auctions and the packing involved. We are now going to be selling items that we create ourselves. Gourd art, air brush art, Sterling Silver and 14K gold fill jewelry, awareness ribbons, sewn items, and anything else we think of to make.

Dan creates some really awesome Gourd Art and air brush paintings. You can look at his work here, http://www.thegourdreserve.com/galleries/sale/gourdart4sale.shtml. Dan also searches out quality computer equipment, monitors and TV’s and list those deals here, http://www.dailysalesonline.com. I design gold and silver jewelry, and awareness ribbons, and craft gourds, you can see some of my creations here, http://www.carmellamaeoriginals.thegourdreserve.com/.

Dan has been diagnosed with emphysema, osteoarthritist, and severe degenerative disk disease. I have been diagnosed with asthma, Osgood-Schlatter disease, and Chondromalacia in my knees. We also believe that I have fibromyalgia, but cannot afford the test and doctors to find out for sure. I have lived with severe pain throughout my body daily for the past 4 years, sometimes with the pain so bad it is crippling and I cannot function at all, other times I can just barely bear it. On top of that I have bi-polar disorder.  Our entire family is also recovering from a 5 year exposure to toxic mold which has amplified our health problems severely. You can read our mold story here, http://www.carmellasplace.thegourdreserve.com/mold.html  We are now living in a house with ventalation problems which the owner refuses to fix and we cannot run the air or the furnance without repairs to the system. Unfortunatly Indiana has no rules or laws about having any working air or heat in a rental, at least that is what our County building inspector and the health department is telling us. All these problems are costing us money we do not have and lots of heartache.

Dan tried to get disability through social security, but it seems their only concern was how much money they were going to have to pay out to our family because of how much money Dan had made all his life. Dan worked long hard houses doing back breaking warehouse work. He paid over a half a million dollars into the social security system over a 40 year period and when the time came that his back broke for good, the "security system" that he paid so much into not only denied him his benefits, they also changed his work history from a warehouse man to a plant manager and said he could do that work with no problem! I cannot believe that the social security system can do such things, but they sure did, and not only did they do it once, but his second denial was word for word the same as the first!!! We never have figured that one out.

With the problems we both have, living in the Midwest is NOT a good thing, so we are now working on raising money to buy an RV, (if someone wants to donate an RV we will not turn it down, but we would prefere to buy one hopefully on an owner financing type deal.), so we can travel the country and be able to live in cooler, (not freezing), dryer climates no matter what time of year it is. We cannot afford to have multiple houses in different states, but if we had an RV we could live in it and when it was time to head South, North, East, or West, we could just pull out of our RV spot in whatever camp ground we were in, and head for the next state we need to be in. It's been our dream for many years to travel the country in an RV full time, now it is a necessity that we do this, and the sooner the better, because the Midwest is killing Dan fast. Most nights he can just breath without too much trouble, other nights he scares me by telling me that it is so hard to breath that he don't think he will last through the night. I know he must be having a horrible time, as I know how hard it is on my asthma, which is nothing compared to emphysema. It's not so bad when everything is cool and dry, but when the humidity is up, like it usually is in the Midwest the air is a killer for those with emphysema and asthma.

With all that said, I just want to say, that we are not asking for a hand out, we are only asking for a little help and you can help us very easily just by shopping through one of our sites. Even if we do not have anything that we made that you would like to have, we still have a lot of affiliate sites you can shop with. Also if you do buy one of our creations, you can know that not only are you buying a hand crafted item made by a disabled American, you are helping that American to help themselves and their family, and for that we THANK YOU GREATLY!!! If you feel that all you can do is make a small donation to help us out, then we will not turn it down, but please see if there is something on one of our sites that you would like first.

Thank you and God Bless!

Dan and Carmella Dunkin and family

Please e-mail us with any questions

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Feel free to participate in this public group space.

Two easy ways to do this:

1. Add a comment or a question here - on this page... or on any other page in this space.
   
2. Or, if you want to start a separate thread - make a new page.

Either way is good - the important thing is your participation. On Aidpage, people support each other by speaking out and by paying attention to each other - as simple as that.

Feel free to participate in this public group space.

Two easy ways to do this:

1. Add a comment or a question here - on this page... or on any other page in this space.
   
2. Or, if you want to start a separate thread - make a new page.

Either way is good - the important thing is your participation. On Aidpage, people support each other by speaking out and by paying attention to each other - as simple as that.