In August of this year, our friend Emily was kicked out of her home. Her parents found out that she has a girlfriend through her social media, and they gave her the choice; come home and go to therapy or stay at school and be completely cut off. She chose the latter and has been doing her best to stay afloat in college without the financial support of her parents.
Her parent's response has put a lot of emotional weight on Emily. Luckily, she was already moved into her dorm when Emily’s parents found out. Her parents responded with hate: aggressive texts blaming her and they even dumped of all her stuff she had left at home such as baby pictures, old clothes, childhood toys, etc. into the trunk of her car.
To stay in school, Emily works two jobs: one at Wegmans and the other, a work study job on campus. She is on her way to declaring herself an independent and hard working individual but has been struggling to support herself while completing schoolwork and competing at a high level. All the working, running, and school assignments leave Emily no time to actually be a kid in college.
Emily has no home, and has no family supporting her. In 2019, she will no longer be on her parents health care plan and will have a whole new set of expenses to be covered. She was kicked out of her home for being herself. No one deserves to have their home and siblings taken away from them for being their true selves. Though she has made a new home in Buffalo through her teammates and her girlfriend, Justyna, we can no longer stand by and do nothing.Initially, the NCAA said that she couldn't receive any of the money. The organization initially declared that it was a violation of their rules to receive the money. However, they quickly relented given the severity of Scheck's situation.
Within two days, Scheck managed to raised $20,000. Within 13 days, she raised $100,515 in donations. Earlier today, she thanked all of her supporters and shut down her crowdfunding campaign:
As Thanksgiving comes around, Emily, Justyna, and I all have something to be grateful for. A nation came together to help out a person in need and showed that Emily was worth fighting for. We all were shocked by the amount of people that helped and my gratitude can’t be expressed in words. Emily and Justyna will be spending thanksgiving together!Scheck encouraged her supporters to give to other LGBTQ organizations that serve those who have also been rejected by their family.