For Tommy - Hurricane Harvey
Tommy would kill us if he found out we set this up.
For those who don't know us, this page is set up by 2 of Tommy's friends from UTD:
Diana Kao (Dallas, TX): I met Tommy in college as Peer Advisors at UTD. When I went through some very difficult times, Tommy would help keep me afloat. And as most of you know, he always keeps it real.
Stephen Nguyen (Carrollton, TX): Tommy and I also met during our time as Peer Advisors during college. Very quickly he and I became the best of friends. He's a brother to me. Tommy is usually very reserved about his personal life, so he'd never do this on his own. Hopefully all of us can help out.
Even though Tommy has said time again, that what's important to him is that his family and friends are safe, we know that the financial part cannot be easy. Tommy's home was flooded 3-4 feet of water, and he's having to hire contractors to make repairs. He and his family are also currently without transportation.
I know most people have already given in one way or another to Hurricane Harvey relief, and Tommy sees that giving to any of that relief effort is a good thing. If 50 of Tommy's friends could give $20 to help alleviate some of his and his family's burdens in all the damages, it would make a huge positive impact for one person we all know and care about (and occasionally tolerate).
We're raising these funds to help Tommy pay for home damages, find reliable transportation, and have a few beers during and after this mess.
Many of you have read his Facebook post, but here's the last part:
What I learned from this whole fiasco is one important thing - MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY ARE SAFE. That's what is really important. This is a small speed bump in the path of life. Let people be; let people recover. We will reach out to you all, once we are ready. Just let us process and accept what has happened to us before we join you guys back in "reality".
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Update at 8:19 PM on 9/15/17:
We are almost at the $2k goal - it has been incredible to see. We are going to Tommy as the beneficiary on Sunday (9/17) - that's when we'll reveal the campaign to him!
Update at 7:30 p.m. on 9/14/17:
Wow. Tommy's friends are amazing. We started this campaign at 9:30 a.m. this morning (9/14), and 10 hours later, the $1,000 goal was fulfilled. We're going for a stretch $2,000 goal to help out a little more and because we know more people would like to give their support.
In the next few days, we'll add Tommy as the beneficiary on this campaign. And he will either kill us, or maybe he will be touched by the goodness in all of you during this difficult time. Or both.
