Eyes on Iris Fundraiser
Help us help Iris, a multiply disabled person fighting for their life!
About us (and who's Iris?)
UPDATE 12/4/2024–As of today, Iris is finally set to move to a permanent shelter tomorrow, 12/5/2024. This will be a HUGE step towards Iris gaining some stability in their life and taking better care of their health and well-being. Though transportation costs have already been taken care of, Iris still needs a safety net to cover other medical and living expenses upon arrival; the ticker has been updated to reflect the current goal of $2500 within the next 24 hours in order to cover this. Please know that your donations now are more important than ever.UPDATE 11/19/2024–As of today, Iris has actually failed to meet the goal listed on this page enough times to lose their shelter for several days, leaving them in the cold and landing them in the hospital. They only recently managed to find new shelter and return to "hidden homelessness" a few days ago, but know that Iris being at risk of losing shelter and dying on the street is NOT an exaggeration.UPDATE 10/23/2024–A personal plea directly from Iris, given how desperate things have gotten over the past month or so:Hey, this is Iris. I need a lot of help and have needed it for nearly two years. I have nowhere else to turn and am begging for your mercy to help keep me alive.I was diagnosed with active systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) back in 2012. The majority of people who develop SLE develop lupus nephritis (kidney involvement), but my variation, central nervous system (CNS) lupus, is less common and a lot harder to treat, let alone get under control. CNS lupus is a progressive, incurable illness that presents a little differently for each person who has it. Symptom-wise, mine are closer to MS than what you'd think of for lupus. Since my diagnosis, I've developed several comorbidities. Comorbidities are common with Lupus because it's your own immune system going rogue and attacking healthy tissue and organs until they fail. My latest comorbidity is photosensitive epilepsy, which I was diagnosed with in 2023.Right now, I'm living in a hotel and raising money both to survive living here and to move in with a friend of mine, just a state over. This fundraiser is a continual effort to get me to a stable place in life when I'm unable to work or care for myself independently.On top of keeping myself sheltered, I need a home health aide, because I cannot function independently and need a caretaker, and I won't be able to make the move without one. My doctors have all recommended repeatedly that I look into getting a caretaker, but my life has been too unstable for me to have one, and neither Medicaid nor Medicare pays caretakers well. Over the past year it's become increasingly obvious that I can't even do ADLs (Activities of Daily Living) without assistance. The hotel I'm staying at is okay with and even suggested having a home health care worker come help me out, so my main goal right now is holding onto the room I have so that I'm able to apply for and hopefully be matched with a caretaker.My weekly expenses are $2,000. Half of that goes to paying for my hotel costs. Where I live has a small kitchenette which really helps with overall living costs, but moving around extensively from place to place day to day beyond that is not physically possible for me–remember that I struggle with ADLs on my own. The other half of that $2,000 goes to saving a small amount for emergencies (in case I fall short of the weekly goal), groceries, medications, and medical copays.The $25k goal is my ultimate savings goal, which would mean having the savings to even be considered to rent anywhere, so I finally won't have to beg on here day in and day out and annoy the shit out of all of you in an attempt to survive, and also because we have no idea how slow or fast moving states with Medicaid is going to be. Moving is prohibitively expensive, but staying here is even more expensive in the long run. All I need is financial help to be able to get out of the position I'm stuck in, because I genuinely don't have money, I don't have any family I can ask for help, and of nobody helps me with this, I'm fucked. I can't survive that. So I'm pleading for mercy, please please please help me survive.Eyes on Iris is an informal mutual aid campaign group working to raise funds for Iris, a disabled friend of ours who's currently homeless and struggling to stay off the streets. Iris has lupus, a chronic autoimmune disorder affecting the skin, joints, and internal organs that you might only recognize from its trademark butterfly facial rash; more specifically, they have active CNS (central nervous system) lupus, whose symptoms strongly resemble amd can be confused with those of multiple sclerosis. You can learn more about CNS lupus at lupus.org, but words can't describe how excruciating it is to actually live with. Maintaining temporary housing is such a huge priority for Iris because their lupus has made them photosensitive to UV rays, meaning even just physically being outside for too long can trigger a lupus flareup; these flareups can manifest as full body pain and fatigue severe enough to leave them totally bedbound and even struggle to sit up in bed just to advocate for themself online. Since their diagnosis in 2012, their doctors have repeatedly recommended that they have a dedicated caretaker at home; on top of how hard this is to secure alone, becoming homeless in 2022 and the stress of maintaining housing on a weekly basis ever since has only worsened their lupus complications, to the point where they developed epilepsy a year ago and risk a deadly seizure with each flareup.On average, Iris needs $2500 a week for living and healthcare expenses, and the few disability benefits they've managed to get only cover a fraction of these expenses. Since they can't generate income, save money, or find permanent housing without losing those benefits, Iris has had to rely on weekly requests to crowdfund support on social media, a stressful endeavor that worsens their lupus by the day. Eyes on Iris's primary goal is to help raise enough money on a weekly basis to cover their living expenses and eventually help them secure permanent housing. By donating to our dedicated helplinks, you help us keep our friend safe and help them live a longer, happier life.
How to donate
Thankfully, we have a few ways you can donate to Iris directly:Venmo: @areanynamesopen
PayPal: paypal.me/popeyeotakuWhen you send a donation, please write "For Iris" in your message so we know what it's for. On PayPal, please select Friends & Family before submitting. We are NOT a business and are trying to minimize the amount of money lost to PayPal's processing fees.
IncentivesAs a token of our appreciation, you can redeem the following incentives for donating a specific amount. Incentive availability is subject to change. Please submit all requests or queries to the relevant individual or [email protected] otherwise. Proof of donation is required with each request--we WILL verify if you actually donated before we respond to you!
Zoombinisonas ($15+)
To encourage more donations, Kitt is offering commissions of characters drawn as species/characters from the Zoombinis franchise to accompany their recent (and hopefully ongoing!) streams of each game in the series. As with all other donation incentives, please submit your commission request to [email protected] with proof of donation.
Basic Guidelines
$15 minimum per sketch of a character as a Zoombini, Fleen, Boolie, or Zerbel
$20 minimum per sketch of a character as any other "Biniverse" critters/NPCs (e.g. Stone Cold Guard, Pizza Troll, Norf, whatever the hell Ulla Instantaneous and Captain Cajun are supposed to be, etc.)
$10 surcharge per commission for each additional character requested
$5 surcharge for additional details (lineart + flat color)
Designs of NSFW origin/nature will be toned down
When you submit a request, please specify the following:
Character
Reference Image/Information
Biniverse Species
Stage of Drawing (sketch, lineart, full color)
Additional Details (specific traits, pose, etc.)
Species References
To save some Googling, below are visual references of the species available to request. In general, commission designs will go off of the "featherless biped" principle; liberties can and will be taken with customizable portions of the species listed under the $15 tier depending on the reference species, but don't expect 100% accuracy in reflecting the character. Commission examples are forthcoming, but expect the bare minimum traits for each species:
A Zoombini is any creature with a round blue body and distinctive blue hair/headgear, eyes, nose, and feet BUT without a visible mouth or arms. Zoombini "feet" are unconventional and can include things like propellers, springs, or wheels, and don't have to be physically attached to the body. Implied mouths and arms (e.g., cigarette tucked under the nose or backpack) are OK.
Zoombini designs from the original 1996 release, featuring all five hair/eyes/nose/feet types. (credit: Zoombinis Wiki on Fandom.com)
Zoombini designs from the 20th anniversary remake from 2016, featuring slightly different versions of five hair/eyes/nose/feet types. (credit: TERC)
Zoombini designs from Zoombinis: Mountain Rescue (2001), featuring all five hair/eyes/nose/feet types. (credit: myabandonware.com)
A Fleen follows the same "rules" as a Zoombini, but with a tall neon green body and more "extreme" features.
Fleen designs from the original 1996 release, featuring all five hair/eyes/nose/feet types. (credit: Zoombinis Wiki on Fandom.com)
Fleen designs from the 20th anniversary remake from 2016, featuring slightly different versions of all five hair/eyes/nose/feet types. (credit: TERC)
A Boolie is any creature with a purple squared body and distinctive eyes, nose, mouth, and feet BUT no visible arms. Boolies are light purple and grin when they're "happy" and dull lavender and frown when they're "sad"; for character designs, this can be stretched to more general "positive/negative" emotions, or low/high energy, but they generally must be some shade of purple. Boolies canonically don't have hair/headgear or unconventional feet, but these features may be added upon request.
Collection of Boolies from Zoombinis: Mountain Rescue (2001), featuring the two "states" Boolies can have ingame. (credit: Nerdplay)
Closeup of the Boolies from Zoombinis: Mountain Rescue (2001), standing in front of a pair of Zoombinis. (credit: Nerdplay)
Pair of "sad" Boolies on a collision course during a cutscene from Zoombinis: Mountain Rescue (2001). A "happy" Boolie can be seen in the background. (credit: Nerdplay)
A Zerbel is any creature with a round orange body with yellow patterns and purple accents, distinctive limbs/paws, and a unique tail. Zerbels are like animal versions of Zoombinis and Fleens, where their limbs/paws can include any method of propulsion and may not have to be physically attached to their body. Zerbels do not appear to have ears, but these can easily be added. Zerbels are generally mammalian in appearance, though non-mammal designs are OK.
Assorted Zerbels from Zoombinis: Island Odyssey (2002), featuring all possible feet and tail types in the game. (credit: myabandonware.com)
Assorted Zerbels from Zoombinis: Island Odyssey (2002) in the Zerbel Barn minigame. (credit: myabandonware.com)
More assorted Zerbels from Zoombinis: Island Odyssey (2002) in the Zerbel Barn minigame. (credit: myabandonware.com)
Zerbel on the box art of Zoombinis: Island Odyssey (2002), revealing the lack of ears and general mammalian appearance.
Contact us
If you have any Eyes on Iris-related questions, comments, or concerns, the easiest way to reach out is to send an email to [email protected]. However, if you would like to talk to the people behind Eyes on Iris directly, you can find us at the following locations/handles:Iris (beneficiary): @Irisposting (Twitter)
Kaion System (streamer): @hasrock36 (Twitter)
Kitt (website developer/streamer): @KTR_HWK (Twitter)Also, a word from Iris themself that we strongly recommend that you read before contacting them directly:"Before you give that unsolicited advice, please read this. You may mean well but we've heard it and you're implying we don't know about our own disabilities." https://www.yoppvoice.com/2020/07/30/ableism-bingo-things-to-never-say-to-a-disabled-person/"
A Norf is a mole-like creature with a brown fuzzy body with distinctive eyes, arms, and a mouth with protruding teeth BUT no apparent legs. They don't always wear headgear, but when they do, they tend to reflect some kind of profession (e.g. hard hats for construction workers).
