My friend Melissa is in a bad spot. I happened to catch a recent entry on her site, and it looks like she's scrambling to try to get some funds together.

She's a fiercely independent gal, and to see her ask for assistance was something out of her character. It definitely got my attention.

Even though I realize most of you reading this don't know her, she's a friend of mine and I'm putting a call in for donations. She's got a PayPal account at this address: moondragon0 at hotmail dot com. That's a zero at the end of the name, btw.

If you've got a PayPal account and can manage to kick a little something her way, I know it would help her out immensely. The amount doesn't matter, even if it's a buck - I think right now any little bit will help out.

And if you're not able to donate anything, swing by her site and drop a line of encouragement. She sounds like she's in a stressful place right now, and some kind words might help alleviate some of that.

And just for a bit of reference, here are some Melissa-related links:

Meeting Moonie for the first time: August 3, 2002.

Melissa was probably the first person I've known via the Internet, and then met in person. She was flying in to stay with a friend in Kenosha, WI... and I was driving her up the next day.

First Internet Gathering: August 4, 2002

Meeting up with Dustin (a3dmofo), Sherie, Jeff (Flamingo Jeff) and Michele (Ms. F) for the first time.

Twelvestone Boozification: April 25, 2003

Big gathering of folks from Twelvestone, descending on Chicago to celebrate Melissa's birthday and to abuse alcohol collectively.