My old best friend from school has had a really tough time of things. She got pregnant and had a child by someone she barely knew who had just gotten out of prison and who was long gone by the time her baby was born. My friend lives in the US and gets no help from the father of her child, from the government or from anyone. My friend has done what she had to do to feed and house her child. She has been arrested for selling drugs and for prostitution, but she has always made sure her son was cared for as best she could, feeds him healthy foods, helps him with his homework, etc. She has also worked regular jobs but the only ones she has qualified for are low paid and she is constantly getting made redundant.
Now she has hit upon a way out - she's going to nursing school and is halfway through but can't afford the tuition for next year and is really struggling to stay afloat.
Another old friend of ours, also American, has decided to "help" by convincing our friend to launch a campaign to get people to donate money for her to pay her tuition and rent and finish nursing school. She has set this up on a website that is like kick starter only for educational stuff. Now she is pressuring me to post a link to Facebook saying "you know doctors and other rich people, right? Surely they would want to help someone else get an education too?"
Now, I'm happy to donate a couple hundred quid to my friend's campaign to help her. However I feel extremely uncomfortable with using social media to ask for money. Another friend of ours got people to fund her to make an album with her band, and another woman I know got or at least tried to get people to contribute to her holiday as her birthday present through Facebook. This stuff just really annoys me and rubs me the wrong way. Now my friends campaign isn't like this and is definitely worthwhile for me to contribute to happily as her old friend. But I don't really see why my other friends would want to contribute.
AIBU not to post this to FB? Would you? And what should I tell my friend?
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Please
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AIBU?
Not to ask for money for my friend on Facebook?
12 replies
whosiwhatsit · 26/05/2013 16:05
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