Help Me Visit Home

Hello friends!

For those of you who have the pleasure of knowing my mom, you know she is the absolute epitome of what a person should be--kind, generous, warm, and loving. Unfortunately, our family was devastated around Halloween when we found out that she had been diagnosed with cancer.

The hardest part of her diagnosis and this whole process has been the fact that I live 1,300 miles away and can't easily come home to see her. I have been so lucky to spend winter break at home in Ohio, but I will be back in Texas for the last semester of my master's degree from January-May, and as it stands I don't have a lot of disposable income to spend on flights home to visit. With the loss of my mom's income and impending medical bills, I don't feel comfortable asking my parents for money either. That's why, despite my reservations, I decided to create this account.

It's so hard to ask for help, but I would tremendously appreciate the freedom to travel home and visit my mom as necessary next semester. I set a goal of $400, which would cover one round-trip plane ticket from Texas to Ohio. However, if we were to meet or exceed this goal, I would use the money towards additional trips home, or to help my parents come to Texas to be a part of my graduation.

I know that many of my friends are poor college students too, and I know that not everyone is in a place to make a financial contribution. That is OK! We are overwhelmed by the love and the kindness that we have experienced so far, and it's helping to keep us going. Any donation you may feel able to make, however small, will be appreciated more than you know. All we ask is that you don't send casseroles (they're not that great anyway, let's be honest). Thank you, and we love you.

Much love,
Alex Goots

P.S. In the interest of full disclosure, I wanted to let you all know that I will be attending two academic conferences this semester, one in Las Vegas and one in Atlanta. Travel to these conferences are paid for by grants and scholarships and will not come out of my pocket or this fund for any reason.