Hey, my name is Cody Elliott. My wife and I have been here for a couple of weeks. We've been homeless for 3 years, and I just got two jobs and had orientation at one of them today.

We could really use help getting a few more nights at the Executive Inn in Marshalltown and maybe help with application fees at an apartment that is available on the first. I can send as much proof as possible, including a picture of a contract that has since expired, showing we have been needing help and that we are working diligently to get back on our feet.

We've already called as many places as we could to get help, and it got us until Friday. My wife had to sell her much-needed medical equipment to a medical supply store, and we still need just a little bit of help. We just left a place that was falling apart, and she even broke her foot. That place ended up not only being physically unsafe from the structure itself but also the "man" was using drugs even with his kids in the house, and when we turned him in, he threatened our lives.

Before that, we were in a homeless shelter in Iowa City where drugs were always being used by people, and even some got assaulted with a steel pipe. I just want to make her feel safe, especially since the medical equipment she sold she needed to live, and now we have to worry about that as well.

We are incredibly desperate now, and I don't know what I can do anymore. I feel so incredibly close to just giving up on everything.