Wow, yet another year has rolled by and the same problems are arising.

For those playing the home game, last year about this time, my partner and I, who both worked at Metro, were under threats of getting laid off...

Fortunately for Gaystlouis.com, I survived. Unfortunately for me, he did not.

So back in March, he was laid off after 12 years of service. (Had he been a year older, he would've been eligible for early retirement.)

Fast forward to now and Metro is in even harder times and now... I suspect I'm up for elimination. He still has been unable to even get interviews, much less job offers.

Times have been very tough. I spent time working on this website when I should've been job hunting. I've spent money here that I should've saved. Regardless, it is done. I do feel that the community deserves far more than I can provide.

But now I need to start calling on the community for their help.

Anyone who knows a web development position here in St. Louis, please contact my partner at: webmaster@dailywav.com

Anyone who knows of a PC Support/Network Support/Management position here in St. Louis, please contact me at: tony@willworkforbandwidth.com

If anyone is interested in making a Paypal donation, you can send it to: webmaster@gaystlouis.com and I can send you instructions (or I'll even post a button online).

Anyone else have any ideas?

I've already filed for Credit Counseling and my partner's filed for bankruptcy. He's ineligible for Food Stamps as I make too much. But neither of us have any savings at present.

We've already cut back a good percentage of things but it just doesn't help enough. I've already cancelled all gifts with friends, save for one friend who was just diagnosed with cancer and is having a tough time going through Chemo.

So any feedback would be appreciated.

I've tried selling off a bunch of my various sports uniforms via Bad Dog Bar, but haven't seen a check back yet for those, though apparently they did sell well. I have a bunch more to sell but I think it's too much for them to do all at once.

I have a few items I need to get up onto eBay which may generate some minor income... But not a lot.

But overall, we are fairly tight with our money.

The biggest issue right now is that he has to pay for Cobra here soon (and assuming I get laid off, I will too), which is $580/month and on unemployment, which only makes about $1250/month, doesn't leave much for the rent or bills.

Hi Tony-

Go ahead and put a pay pal/donation button up on your site and I can write a story about the history of gaystlouis.com for the VVOICE website and mention that you are in need of donations to keep the site going for the next few months. Actually, in my Jan. column on StL gay media I mention your site as the oldest GLBT St. Louis website. You've definitely paid your dues and earned your place as a treasured LGBT institution.

If you have any bio/background on the site please send it to me at colin_murphy@sbcglobal.net along with a couple of quotes you'd like to include. I think Kerry Shatzer (sp) from old Slam Mag days first founded gaystl.com and then you purchased it?

Anything we can do to help just let us know.

Colin

Thanks Colin,

I'll get the Paypal button up this weekend. (Need to find a few minutes to be able to whip one up.)

Thanks.

Colin's article was posted this morning:

Area LGBT Website Endures but Economy Takes Toll (Vital Voice)

I admit, I was totally taken off-guard. I was figured it was be about the site more than the money issues, but looking back, I guess those have been dwelling over the website more and more of late.

A quick followup to what he posted.

For right now, my job is still intact. I don't think there's anyone at Metro feeling too confident about the future right now. (And for the record, we really are screwed right now. This year is going to be bad. Worse than last year. And it'll keep getting worse until funds come in... permanently.)

I hadn't mentioned to the partner that I'd mentioned HIS financial issues to Colin so he was a little surprised this morning. (Whoops. I need to buy flowers I think.) But he's still job hunting. He runs a website which brings in a little bit of income, but much like me, he does it for the enjoyment. Dailywav.com

When I talked about the future... I have a lot of ideas. But most of them require beefy servers, not the kind that GoDaddy can cheaply host. The current host is fairly cheap at $105/month (I actually couldn't get that price anymore, it's gone up due to the economy.)

I can go to a smaller server or a shared hosting plan, but that cuts out features, like the Forums.

And I added the PayPal link to the front page of the website this evening. I wasn't prepared so sorry that it was so ugly earlier in the day.

Thank you Colin for the article. I'm hoping the donations will go to help defray the hosting costs for a little while and maybe pay for a little bit in advance in case things do turn south fast.