<div>Hi! I'm Tonia. I'm a single mom with PTSD and ADHD, and an unemployed marketer, who's going back to school to become a paramedic.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Between the limitations that come with being a single mom, my PTSD/ADHD symptoms, and the complete instability in the tech and marketing industries, I've decided that going back to school is the best way to build a stable life for me and my son. I want to show him it's never too late to change your path, and to never give up in the face of adversity.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I've struggled with finding and holding a job for the last 6 years. Between layoffs, drastic unsustainable pay cuts, and the toll corporate America was taking on me due to my PTSD, I finally decided that maybe the universe was telling me I was meant for a more service-oriented career aligned with my interests, so I'm studying to be a paramedic.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>Why can't you just work while you go to school?</strong>
</div>
<div>I will! Unfortunately, every degree in healthcare requires an enormous amount of work, including randomly-scheduled 12-hour clinical shifts that make working a full time job impossible for most people, including me.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I do hope to land a part-time job at a hospital that allows me some flexibility, and I'm a podcaster and writer, so I'll be working on projects in both of those areas to help make ends meet.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>What will my donation help pay for?</strong>
</div>
<div>My living expenses (after the income I expect to bring in) while I'm in school for the next 2 years will total about $30k per year. Here's what you'll be helping me pay for:
</div>
<ul>
<li>Rent
</li>
<li>Food for my son and I
</li>
<li>Utilities
</li>
<li>School expenses not covered by tuition
</li>
<li>The priceless gift of peace of mind so I can focus on school and being a great mom (and also not be woken up with a panic attack most nights )
</li>
</ul>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>If you need $30,000, why are you only asking for $10,000?</strong>
</div>
<div>Honestly, it feels greedy to ask for $30k. Lots of people are struggling right now, and every single dollar I raise will be one less dollar I have to borrow or pull from my 401K. Although my non-donation options aren't great, and will cost me more money in the long run, I have those options. Other people may not be so lucky, but raising $30k would be an absolutely huge relief if I do hit that mark. Anything in excess of $30k would go toward next year's expenses.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>How else can I support you?</strong>
</div>
<ul>
<li>If you teach at a school/university and are looking for a guest speaker/lecturer, you can hire me to talk about writing or podcasting!
</li>
<li>Listen to my podcasts (NIGHTLIGHT and Afflicted), or buy my book, <em>Risen</em>.
</li>
<li>Commission a short story from me, or hire me to ghostwrite your book.
</li>
<li>Share this fundraiser with your circle, and be sure to tell them why you think they should donate.
</li>
</ul>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Thank you so much for reading. I'm a firm believer in paying it forward, so when I'm financially stable I will be giving back to the community. We are all in this together.
</div>

Allison Banta

Bridget Brave

Marguerite McNamara

James Flanagan

M Carol Gyzander

Anonymous

Peter Clines

Faith McQuinn

Josh Burgess

Michael Davis

Robert Raymonda

evan purdey

Laura Blackwell

Janice Cagan-Teuber

Matthew Brandenburg

Melanie C. Duncan

Empower Tonia: A Single Mom's Quest for a Stable New Career

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

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Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

currencyCode

Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

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fallback mode accounts

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p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

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charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

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manual_entry

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Native 11.3.0 and above

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Empower Tonia: A Single Mom's Quest for a Stable New Career

Still $5,425 to go. Help us build momentum.