Karen is organizing this fundraiser for Mica O’Herlihy, a friend who recently moved to Minnesota at 51 to begin the accelerated Master of Nursing program at the University of Minnesota. Mica took the long road to nursing. He is an artist and educator, spent decades farming and raising animals, raised a family as a single parent, and has worked in end-of-life care for about 25 years. For the past several years, Mica has worked full-time as an in-home caregiver and death doula. At 49, he returned to school and pushed through the science prerequisites to pursue his goal of becoming a hospice and palliative care nurse, with plans to eventually teach at the intersection of medicine, art, humanities, and ethics.

After arriving in Minnesota, Mica received a financial aid award letter showing a major gap caused by ongoing litigation affecting federal graduate education funding. He has already secured $42,500 through scholarships and loans, including the Alex Pretti Honor Scholarship, but he still needs $37,500 to complete the program. Mica shared his news on Threads, and the response was remarkable. Minnesota nurses began showing up in the comments to welcome him, talk about Alex, share their pride in nursing in Minnesota, and keep asking for a GoFundMe link. There wasn’t one at the time, so this fundraiser exists because they kept asking how to help. Mica loves the word neighborism, and that is exactly what so many people in Minnesota have shown him already.

Most of the nurses offering encouragement and support have never even met Mica, yet they recognized his commitment to caring for others and wanted to help him continue this path. This fundraiser is an effort to close the remaining funding gap so Mica can finish nursing school and begin his career in hospice and palliative care. If you are able to give, any contribution of any size will mean so much. Just as important, sharing this fundraiser is another act of neighborism that can help Mica reach the finish line.