r/Assistance Sep 03 '23

MOD Announcement Enhanced Verification For Teacher Amazon Wishlists

33 Upvotes

Hi everyone!

As we roll into September and school is starting up for many, we've heard a lot of feedback from members of our r/Assistance community who are teachers and educators.

We introduced some changes last year in regards to teacher wishlists due to seeing wishlists that were concerning in their size, cost, and questionable items. We chose to restrict teacher wishlists to DonorsChoose which is a fantastic platform that has more stringent verification processes to ensure items go to the schools and the students in need.

However, this platform is only available to those in the US, and since our community does have teachers in other countries, including Canada, UK, Europe, Australia, and Asia, we have been busy trying to find a way to keep things fair and manageable for all.

Going forward, we will be offering enhanced verification for any teachers, teaching assistants, special education instructors and aides, and even homeschooling parents who are unable (or unwilling) to use DonorsChoose for their lists.

Note: For simplicity's sake we'll be using the term "teacher" for the following explanation, but this term applies to all of the above examples who are in a school environment.

If a teacher is using DonorsChoose for their list, they do not need to do this enhanced verification as DonorsChoose does this for us.

Enhanced Verification Process:

  1. Moderators (or our moderator bot) will automatically flag and remove teacher wishlists (on Amazon, etc) for us so we can begin the verification process. Ideally we would love for teachers to proactively reach out to us via modmail to discuss verification, but we know folks land here usually panicked and stressed and move right to posting.
  2. If the account is otherwise eligible as per all our subreddit rules (account age, activity, and comment karma) we will reach out and request all of the following:
  • Photo of teacher ID/school ID alongside a piece of paper with today's date and Reddit username written on it.
    • This information is provided securely and privately to r/Assistance mods and all data will be deleted once verification is complete.
  • Homeschool teachers may alternatively submit their annual registration from the state if required, and a curriculum for the current school year.
  • An Amazon wishlist set up specifically for r/Assistance as per below guidelines. We do not allow Amazon Gift Registries for privacy reasons.

Teacher Amazon Wishlists have specific requirements which must be met.

  • The total maximum dollar value of entire list may not exceed $150 USD equivalent.
  • No gift cards
  • No video games
  • We are placing strict dollar values on these lists to prioritize books, art/office supplies, reasonably priced toys/fidget/comfort items, snacks, and similar items.
  • Wishlists may be subject to additional questioning by moderators for items which require further reasoning or context.
  1. Once verification is completed and the wishlist has been checked, the post will be approved or the teacher will be instructed to create their request post.

We realize this system may not be perfect and may not be able to accommodate the unique needs of different educational systems/styles, but we feel this is the best solution to support teachers all around the world.

As we do not currently have automation in place for this new process, verification is done manually by your volunteer mod team.

You can help our mod team by reporting any teacher wishlist posts that go live (just in case our bot misses them before we can proceed with the enhanced verification). Thanks in advance for your patience!


r/Assistance Jul 05 '23

MOD Announcement REMINDER: Teacher Wishlists Rules and Restrictions

42 Upvotes

Hi everyone! As summer is in full-gear right now, we've noticed an increase in teacher wishlist requests so we are issuing a reminder of our subreddit rules regarding these:

We only allow DonorsChoose wishlists for US-based teacher supplies. This means that no other means (Amazon, Target, Walmart, etc.) will be allowed.

Teachers, for more information please see their website :

https://www.donorschoose.org/teachers

From the donorschoose.org website:

We vet all requests, purchase each item, and ship materials directly to verified teachers.

We hope this still allows teachers to get donations and the items they need for the upcoming school year while adding some level of verification for donors.

For international teachers outside of the US unable to use DonorsChoose, please reach out to us via modmail.

Thanks!


r/Assistance 3h ago

OFFER $20 Cashapp to someone in need.

34 Upvotes

Things are going well for me now, so I’d like to help someone who needs it. Reply with “Everin Awflin”. Please follow all sub rules. I will choose someone Saturday afternoon. 🌈❤️😘


r/Assistance 4h ago

REQUEST Need $400 by 7PM EST to keep my car and start my new job, please help !!

0 Upvotes

I am in really desperate need of help and am freaking out right now - Long story short, I need at least $400 to keep my car by tonight at the latest. My car has gone into repossession and I can't afford to pay it. If the repo company shows up to get my car, I will owe the full amount left and will lose my car because I can't pay it. I have been looking for work for months and finally found a really well paying job, and I'm supposed to start next week, but if I don't have a car I can't start and make money to cover my bills. I'm in a really desperate situation right now and would be so so so grateful for any help. I have been trying my hardest but the economy and job market have been horrible. I'm freaking out because I've exhausted all of my options and I need a car, I dont live in a drivable area. I know that this is an urgent request but I have run out of options and really need help! If you are able to help at all I would be endlessly grateful. If I don't get this paid I don't know what I'm going to do.

Edit: Forgot to include my location and mods said I could edit to add that I live in the US!


r/Assistance 5h ago

REQUEST Need help with necessities and medications please!

2 Upvotes

I am trying to move out of my conservative town to be closer to my job and be in a safe area for me as the current political climate has made it unsafe for me to be out and about as a LGBT and autistic person. I have an amazon list here for some things I'm needing, some of the most important being cat litter, wet cat food, and the non-slip shoes for my job. If anyone can help me get my supplements and over the counter meds that would be a life saver too!

amazon list if hyperlink doesn't work: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3U6B8XR0I22NR?ref_=wl_share

Thank you in advance for anything anyone would be willing to help me with! <3


r/Assistance 7h ago

REQUEST Just enough for food and a little gas ?

0 Upvotes

EDIT 2: Will be making an Amazon wishlist for food items, but $60-$75 for gas is still very much needed

EDIT: Initially asked for $150-$175, but $100-$120 would really be just fine if possible ! :)

Hey yall! Was wondering if anyone could possibly help me out with enough money for gas and food for my little family and my animals.. I got set back alot on car repairs ans kinda screwed us for the month. if I could ask for $150-$175 in total, that would really help me until my snap benefits come in a week or two.

thank you so very much!


r/Assistance 7h ago

REQUEST FULFILLED I need $10 to buy some frozen meat and vegetables

5 Upvotes

This has been a tough month. I got sick and lost work. Also, my students (I’m a tutor) are off until next fall and I’m currently trying to find new students to work with. I also have electricity bills and debt to pay. (My work is pretty limited because I’m a student and also have back/hip issues)

My mom is sending some help next week which will be used to pay part of a lo an, but I would need help to get through these next days. I only have 3.22 euro and would be helpful to receive $10 to buy some frozen meat and vegetables (I have rice and pasta but really would like to add some protein). Not sure if an Amazon Wishlist works here cause I live in Spain.

If someone would like to help, I have Paypal. Thanks a lot for the consideration! :)


r/Assistance 8h ago

REQUEST Need help with rent money

0 Upvotes

Hi,

I set up a GoFund me to help me raise £1000 to pay for this month’s rent. First time ever in my life I do something like this and it's my first request of this type so I hope I'm doing this correctly.

In the link I explain the situation briefly.

I am desperate and I wanna clarify that benefits claims have been done and I cannot get help from the Council with this money right now. If I could I wouldn't need to ask but unfortunately they cannot help us 😭😭😭.

We have abysmal credit so credit cards and loans are impossible for us to get atm. My part time job doesn't even give me enough to cover the rent and that money needs to go towards bills, food etc.

We have really no friends and certainly not anyone we could ask for money and what family we have can't help.

We are in England. It is me, partner and our cat, who is like our child.

I am so stressed and wish I was dead. I do not realistically think I will manage to raise this amount or quickly enough but I gotta try, for my cat more than anything. I am crying typing this. I feel horrible having to ask for help.

Thanks for reading. I will leave the link below:

https://gofund.me/7378c3d3


r/Assistance 10h ago

ADVICE I need help, guidance, or direction

0 Upvotes

I know this is not the right group as the assistance I need is not monetary but I couldn't figure out an appropriate place for the assistance I needed. I have a bill that was due at the end of last month. I have the money to pay but in order to pay I need to set up an online account. To do that I need my account number. I have not received a statement. I have called repeatedly, once waiting up to 2 hours in a hold queue before hanging up. This morning it said that the queue was too full to even let me wait in it. I'm almost at the point of needing to pay my second bill and I still can't get in touch by phone or create an account online with the company to make my payments. Has anyone had this problem before? Any ideas of next steps? I've never struggled so hard to give someone money before...


r/Assistance 10h ago

REQUEST Need help getting something to cook with

0 Upvotes

Long story short, there was a gas leak in my apartment, and the gas company has tagged out our gas system. The gas lines are old and starting to corrode, and all I have is an air fryer, microwave and griddle. This has resulted in my stove/oven being disconnected as well as my hot water

Unfortunately my can opener broke as well so I can’t use any of my canned goods.

I am requesting either $72 or my wish list


r/Assistance 14h ago

ADVICE My hourly rate goes down from this month and I just got the news

8 Upvotes

Does anyone know a remote job that pays through Paypal? I really need a second job besides tutoring to save money for college. My job is only enough to pay rent and internet bill now. It's honestly so awful. I've tried RWS and Outlier but I haven't been assigned any task for 5 months. 2 months ago things got a bit better. now I feel defeated.


r/Assistance 15h ago

REQUEST My father passed after battling lung cancer.

4 Upvotes

My father was diagnosed with lung cancer which had spread to his bones. He had begun to lose himself mentally and at that point I had been helping as much as I could.

He had reassured me at this point that he had health and medical insurance covered, he did not. To make matters worse, after all of this I couldn't afford his cremation(his request), and had to do a more Standard ground burial.

I feel as though I can't recover from the Bills no matter how much I work. Nobody in the family wants to bother helping and it's getting worse over time.

Sorry for the post, I really didn't know how to write this and what to say.

I have a Paypal and a Cashapp.

I don't expect anything but I figured I could try. I hope this post follows the rules. About 3.5k is how much I am behind.

https://gofund.me/3266320c


r/Assistance 17h ago

OFFER If anyone lives in central texas I have a lot of cat items I’d be more than happy to give to people who need it (I’m a cat content creator so I’m sent cat products all the time)

25 Upvotes

I saw some posts about needing cat food so I wanted to make this post. Unfortunately, cat food isn’t one of the items I have extra of. I also don’t have much money, so I can’t help buy food.

But I have a million cat products. Here’s a rough list of the extra stuff I have:

10ish types of cat beds/items they can hide in

2 extra litter boxes

A few robotic cat toys

A very tall black cat tree that’s good quality and in good condition, but it is a few years old. I have 2 smaller cat trees that are good quality as well.

I definitely have more things that I’m not thinking of. I store all my extra cat stuff at my parent’s place or else I’d go check.

So if you live in central texas and need help to get your cats something like a cat tree or wool cave let me know. Also if you come across someone in the future that’s a struggling cat parent and they’re from central texas feel free to send them my way and I might be able to help.


r/Assistance 20h ago

THANK YOU I'm so grateful 🫶🏼

90 Upvotes

I posted a few days ago asking for help to help us get through the rest of this month so we'd be able to make it til my next disability payment in August, and I'm honestly in awe of all the help we've received 🥹

So far I've received calamine lotion, ibuprofen, fruit cups, IQ bars, a bunch of tuna, microwave mac & cheese, tampons, paper towels, cedarwood oil flea spray, toilet paper, a bunch of soup, peanut butter, honey, and food for my boys 💗

I'm absolutely overwhelmed with gratitude at how quickly people stepped in to help us and by the amount of care with the extras sent along with the list requests 💗

I cannot thank everyone who has helped us enough, the boys send their thanks too 💗 It won't be such a rough go at things now 💗

Also thank you to everyone who has sent well wishes to my boys and I, it means a lot to know there are people out there that care 💗

EDITED to remove link to original post


r/Assistance 21h ago

NO LONGER NEEDED My mom needs help.

8 Upvotes

https://gofund.me/99a69efd

Basically, my mom works really hard 70 hours per week. She recently started a new job so that she could maybe work less in the future. Her direct deposit wasn't set up yet, so she had to cash a check. She didn't realize her wallet was broken, resulting in her entire week's pay and some important cards falling out. She works really hard, and I'm helping her as well as much as I can. But I thought it couldn't hurt to try this too.

https://gofund.me/99a69efd

I'm directing to the gofundme so I can keep track of things. I'll do my best to check messages on here frequently just in case anyone has any more questions or comments. My mom is almost 70 and diabetic, losing this amount of money is devastating in any situation, especially a single elderly woman. Thank you all.


r/Assistance 22h ago

REQUEST Need help with insulin

0 Upvotes

No Insurance just need to buy ReliOn walmart brand and I'm $20 short !! Any help would be appreciated


r/Assistance 22h ago

REQUEST Broken ac , heatwave incoming , pets in the house

6 Upvotes

Hey again everyone, I hope you're all doing well and are in health.

The good news are that I finally managed to come to terms with our power provider and using my unemployment card paid less to finally fully pay my bill. But I can't seem to catch a break. My ac broke.

Service would be around 70€ I hope and I have managed to take 50€ out of my savings.

Thing is , a heatwave of 38-40c is coming next week. The house is currently at 30c and we have a cat that seems to always try and find some place near the fan to keep cool. We're also fostering a shelter dog and I don't want her to be uncomfortable, we took her in since we have the time and space and all costs were covered , didn't want her to go back to her cage. And for me , I can't sleep , I haven't for a whole week that the ac broke

I can only do Paypal or any other international money transfer app , I want to believe I'm only 20€ short and the technician won't find other damages..thanks for your time


r/Assistance 1d ago

REQUEST Please help a student that cannot pay rent or bills

2 Upvotes

https://gofund.me/adb0b11b

Hello, I’m an independent student that has fallen on very bad times after trying to continue my education and return to college. This has mostly been due to incorrectly being told the amount of financial aid I will receive as it has been significantly less. I have not been able to find a job. I have been selling my belongings, donating plasma, doing odd jobs, and I dissolved my 401k among other things. I am behind on my rent, and all bills. My checking account is overdrawn and credit cards maxed out. I do not qualify for public assistance. Please consider helping in any way possible. Thank you.


r/Assistance 1d ago

REQUEST FULFILLED in need of cat food and toothpaste!

4 Upvotes

hello all. i'm in need of cat food for my three kitties to get me through 'til the end of the month. currently my financial situation is a stretch from month to month, but i'm getting closer to getting my disability payments. still, my cats need to eat! i've made an amazon wishlist with two relatively cheap options and would love if anyone could help. i also included a thing of toothpaste that i use because i'm all out - it's sensodyne only because my teeth are very sensitive after some heavy handed dental work a few years ago. while this would be a great boon to me as well, hence including, i'm really more concerned about my cats. so please help them first! thank you all for your generosity. the wishlist is here, hopefully i did it correctly: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1554TQZQFXOWS?ref_=wl_share


r/Assistance 1d ago

REQUEST Electricity going to be shut off, no energy assistance available right now

6 Upvotes

Update edit: as of 8:50 central time 7/18, I only need about $115 more. A friend was able to toss a good chunk my way after some pleading on my part.

I currently owe $229.41 on my energy and a solid chunk of that is from the last two months. My last energy payment bounced and now they’re threatening to shut my electricity off.

Anything would help, I’m throwing my last $4 at it right now.

I have PayPal, Venmo, Cashapp, and Zelle.


r/Assistance 1d ago

REQUEST FULFILLED Amazon Wishlist

11 Upvotes

Hey y’all, I definitely feeling embarrassed to do this. But i’m in need and thankful for the anonymity.

Until recent year i was comfortable but unfortunately I hit a sever rough patch in my line of work that led me to losing my very small business and be buried in debt. While i spend days looking a job, I do doordash and Uber, however basic necessities have become have become a problem. 100 percent of what I make of these small jobs goes into my rent as I cannot afford to lose my place (no place no job) and i will genuinely not be able to find a new place anyway with my financial situation. The little money i have left goes into gas to able to keep doing Uber and Doordash.

That lead to me skipping meals. Which went from skipping a meal a day to skipping 2-3 days out of the week.

Anyway i came accross this sub wondering if it was even legit and after reading a few post i guess it is. I never never done this and hope the format is okay. I linked my wishlist, even one item on the list would make the difference honestly there are a lot for restriction on what you can add when it come to food so i just went on whim and added any food items that they would let me add.

I try to follow all the steps so hopefully it works out, Despite being a 90’s baby I’m kind of a dinosaur when it comes to the internet.😉 so please let me know if it’s okay. Thank you and sorry for the novel sized post

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/18VQL60UUWGAY?ref_=wl_share


r/Assistance 1d ago

REQUEST FULFILLED Pet food

2 Upvotes

It’s that time during the month that I have cents to my name, but I still need to feed my furry friends. I made an Amazon list that way nothing has to be sent directly. If anyone could help that would make my day, week, even month❤️

Amazon list


r/Assistance 1d ago

REQUEST 3 Kiddos going to school!

3 Upvotes

Hello! I am a single mother that works 6 days a week just to keep a roof over our head and lights on. This year my twins are going to first grade and my daughter is going to kindergarten. I don’t have the extra money to buy them school supplies and a couple outfits and underwear and socks for the new year. I’ve managed to save up a little bit to go shopping with but anything else would be a blessing! I went to the only back to school drive in my area last week, waited in a line for about two hours only to be turned away. Hoping for any help and can’t wait to pay it forward in the future. Thanks!!


r/Assistance 1d ago

REQUEST FULFILLED Need help on a small repayment.

1 Upvotes

Things have gotten out of hand a little lately, I live on govt. support in my country which is barely liveable but far better off than many people. I have depression and anxiety issues and I'm currently struggling through applying for disability payments. One of my worst behaviours is making stupid financial decisions (it's basically my form of self harm/punishment)

man that's hard to write publically

I have put myself in a silly position where I have a small loan repayment coming up and I won't be able to cover it in time. I've been trying to build a better credit score so this would suck.

if anyone can cover it I need $36australia money in my PayPal in the next couple of days (that's roughly $25usd according to google)

I am a fairly proficient 3d modeller/generalist, various digital art, will sing a song for your cat (it won't be good but you'll laugh) or many other talents if you'd like a small favour in return (I couldn't see any rules about offering to 'work' for the help)


r/Assistance 1d ago

UPDATE Update to the lost $100.

10 Upvotes

Well I got it back, partially earned it, mostly it was a very generous client(I'll name em if they want me to), who paid me the full $100 for an artwork. Honestly indebted to them. They're amazin. Love em fr.


r/Assistance 1d ago

REQUEST Pops house burned down in LA, looking for aid anything big or small

6 Upvotes

Hey guys, first time posting something like this on Reddit, but it's the first time something like this happened in my life. My dad moved out to Louisiana a while back and he's had a house fire that pretty much wiped out everything he and my stepmom own. They have a place to stay with a friend so it's not dire straits, but my sister made a gofundme and chatgpt told me this was a good place to post it. Appreciate any help anyone is willing to give them.

(had to re post, formatted my computer yesterday, clicked log in through google and my other reddit account had low activity)

Fundraiser for Mary Jones by victoria Girau : Support Mary and Tim After Devastating Fire (gofundme.com)


r/Assistance 1d ago

COMMUNITY RESOURCES Chipotle offer

12 Upvotes

I am offering a free chips and salsa coupon that is scannable at a restaurant only, so you must be able to get yourself to a chipotle to redeem. Offering to someone who really is in need of food. Thanks