Our survival

Can you help?

Hi, we are the Pop family and we are raising funds to try to prevent us from becoming homeless. Our journey began back in August of 2014 whereupon we left the UK and emigrated to California in search of the American dream.

In 2015, I bought a thriving smog shop business that was doing well enough to look after my two children, rent a three-bedroom house and live debt free in a very comfortable lifestyle. Our only source of income was the smog shop that I had purchased which took care of all our needs and I also had an investment to pay for our green card under the EB-5 Visa Programme.

The formalities of the green card should have been completed within 18-24 months so that we could reclaim our invested funds which were going to be used to buy a modest house for us to live in.

In October of 2017, the first of the big wildfires affected us and I remember getting a phone call from the insurance agent that fateful morning telling me not to worry because we would be made whole, as this was so severe that it had been taken up at the federal level. Despite the fact that we were forced to evacuate and close both businesses, earning zero income, I funded the salaries and expenses from my own personal savings. Little did I know what the knock-on effect, over time, the loss of over 9,000 vehicles in California would have. This would then be further added to by wildfires over the following three years. By this time, we were further impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The smog shop business revenues are now down by 70%. We have sold off everything we had of value and are now we have trouble even buying groceries. Additionally, I am now completely blind in one eye and have lost most vision in the other eye, I assume due to a cataract and I cannot afford to be treated.

Our visa issues are still ongoing, over 8 years later, and the exit strategy for our invested funds has been delayed for another two years, possibly because the hotel investment has been so affected by the pandemic.

I am a former airline pilot and I feel terribly ashamed, never having been in this position, to ask for handouts and I still have faith that God will come through, but I now throw myself on your mercy. Bless you, all and thank you for listening to our story.

Any help would be very much welcome in my family time of great need.

September 2023 update

Thanks to much help, donations & kind acts, I now have my vision restored. This makes a huge difference as you can imagine. No news regarding the green card issuance (it has only been 9 years so far!)