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Help!My name is "Cap" Taylor and I have lived in central Indiana (United States) all of my life. I have always cherished being very independent and self-sufficient, until recently. About three years ago my wife and I were doing just fine. We both held good jobs, we owned a nice house and everything was fine. So we decided to share our good fortune with another. A friend of mine at a local university told me about a young man who lived on a small island in the Caribbean. His family, like most American families, made just enough money to get along and that was about it. But this young man, who I will call "Pat," wanted to go to college. He had just enough money for his tuition but not enough for food or housing to live in the United States. Pat is an incredibly intelligent young man and certainly deserved the opportunity. So my wife and I decided to help out. We offered him room and board in our four-bedroom home for as long as he needed it in order to complete college in central Indiana. Then fate decided to play a horrible trick on all of us. First, I suddenly lost my job. We were alright for a while but with the flood of immigrants into Indiana, work was very hard to find. Except for small, poorly paying jobs, I was out of work for over a year. It didn't take long for this hardship to cause another toll. My wife and I got divorced. It was through no one's fault really, it was just one of those things. Being a man who believes in living up to his responsibilities, I continued to provide Pat with room and board. Of course our four-bedroom home was sold and I was forced to get a two-bedroom apartment. Then the unthinkable happened! Pat's father passed away in the Caribbean. Unfortunately, neither I nor Pat had the extra money for him to fly down there for the funeral. This took a heavy toll on Pat; mentally, spiritually and emotionally. Unlike most Americans, people in the Caribbean still have the old fashion beliefs that we once had in our country. Pat and his family are good, religious people. He was expected to be their by family and friends. Pat was very close to his parents, making this event extremely hard on him. Pat was so riddled with guilt about not being able to attend his father's funeral, that his health began to suffer! He developed a serious case of ulcers. They were so bad at times that they actually incapacitated him. He began having migraine headaches that compounded his health problems. It got so bad that Pat had to take a semester off of college to get his health under control. This put him out of status and in danger of being deported for not being in college. I was financially helpless! Fortunately, the college he attends has an excellent (and caring) staff in the International Students Department. They went to bat for him and helped him get some of his bills straightened out. They even went so far as to get him a plane ticket so that he could go home, visit his surviving family, get closure with his father's passing and be back in status when he returned to the United States. Since Pat had become a member of my family in almost every sense of the phrase, even I was extremely thankful for all of the help he received. Pat returned to the United States and his health began to improve, with only occasional minor setbacks. Unfortunately, he had spent so much money on medical bills and prescriptions, his college funds were almost entirely depleted. Because of my divorce and the extended period of unemployment, I had no money with which to help him. His college had already done all they could, both financially and otherwise. Now Pat is ready to finish his college education, so that he can become a productive American citizen. Unfortunately, I have a simple $9.00 per hour job in a factory instead of the $45,000 a year job I once had. I have an apartment to maintain including utilities, food to buy for two people, a vehicle to maintain and winter clothing to obtain for the both of us. In short, I cannot help Pat financially; I can only offer him a place to survive. I have not told Pat about this website. I'm not certain how he would react. He, too, is a proud young man. I am waiting to see if we can raise enough money to keep him in college before I tell him. It will take approximately $25,000 to pay for his next term. Simply because international students are charged almost three times that of local students. It is so unfair! I've never told anyone this before, and it embarrasses me enormously to say it, but it hurts me deeply to know that I am only slightly able to keep my promise to such a wonderful young man. Someone so intelligent, gentle, such a mild disposition and is loved by everyone who meets him. It must be that fantastic Caribbean accent of his! It is my fondest wish to be able to pay for the rest of his college, but my situation simply will not allow it. If Pat does not come up with the money to finish his education soon, he will be deported back to the Caribbean. He will have lost his dream of getting his Bachelors Degree and becoming a productive American citizen. I will have completely and totally failed in my promise to help this deserving young man. I can live with being a failure and working a dead-end job. But I cannot, under ANY circumstances, allow this to happen to Pat! He deserves much more than that! He deserves to finish his college degree and to have the opportunity to become an American citizen! Therefore, I am BEGGING everyone out there, to please help me to help Pat finish his college education. Even if a few thousand people donate only $1.00 each, it will help. Or if a company or an organization can help with larger amounts, it will be enormously appreciated by both myself and Pat. If you only knew how much it hurts an independent cuss like myself to ask for help, you would truly realize just how important this is to me! If it were just me, I'd go to my grave rather than ask for help. But it isn't for me. It's for a young man who looks up to me and counted on me to help fulfill a lifelong dream. A dream that I have single handedly helped to destroy! Anyone wishing to help Pat can send a donation to the address below. Please include your name and mailing address as I'm certain Pat will want to thank each and every one of you when I tell him who helped him to remain in college. And I will want to thank you as well. Donations may be mailed to the following United States address: "Keep Pat In College" Fund PO Box 425 Taylorsville, Indiana 47280-0425 USA
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