With the help of friends and strangers, Anna-Liisa Pold is on her way to becoming a U.S. citizen.
Pold, a UF occupational therapy graduate student, started a GoFundMe page Sunday to raise money to cover the application costs for U.S. citizenship. Within the first two hours, she reached her $680 goal. As of press time, she’s raised more than $1,200.
“It’s unbelievable in the most amazing, magical way,” the 26-year-old said.
When she was 2 years old, she left her home country of Estonia with her family after the Soviet Union collapsed, she said. Her father got a job working for a Veterans Affairs hospital in Los Angeles to conduct cancer research, she said.
When she realized her green card would expire in March 2017, she said she knew she had to decide whether to renew it or apply for citizenship.
It wasn’t a difficult decision, she said. After graduating, she wanted to stay in the U.S. and work. But it was finding the funding to apply, with a price tag of $680, that forced her to reconsider.
With her occupational therapy board exam, which costs about $500, coming up, she realized she couldn’t become a citizen without help, Pold said.
Pold’s friend Emiro Goossen, 21, said he wasn’t surprised she reached her fundraising goal so quickly.
“I knew it was going to happen,” the UF finance student said. “I had no worries.”
Goossen, who has known Pold for about two years, said when she worked as a waitress at the local restaurant Ballyhoo Grill, she never had a bad review.
Goossen said his mother was eager to contribute after he shared the page on Facebook. She wanted to support Pold too, he said.
Pold said she still finds it hard to believe how many people supported her through the fundraiser. It won’t feel totally real until she submits the application with the check, she said.
“This to me defines my American dream,” she said. “No matter where we come from or where we’re born, taking time to show each other kindness is what we have in common.”
