Harvard is now $50K closer for T.O. woman
Crowdfunding effort raises more than enough for tuition; master’s candidate ‘humbled’
Toni Morgan knew something big had happened the second she picked up the phone Thursday morning and heard her mother slowly pronounce her name.
Drawing out each syllable of the 32-year-old’s moniker is a tactic her mother reserves for moments of extreme excitement or surprise and the more than $50,000 Morgan had raised for her tuition qualified.
The funds flowed after a Wednesday Star story that detailed her harrowing journey from being a homeless, high school drop-out to landing an acceptance to Harvard University.
The problem? Morgan, a programming director for a non-profit organization, didn’t have the money to pay Harvard, so she turned to crowdfunding to help her raise $50,000 for tuition. She hoped, if she was lucky, to nab $21,000 more for housing.
Landing either total, she imagined, “would be unthinkable.”
But by 7 p.m. Thursday, she had hit the $54,000 mark, thanks to about 790 donors — most of whom were complete strangers.
“It’s overwhelming,” she said. “I am still coming to terms with the reality that I am actually going (to Harvard) because of all these people.”
Some of those people, she said, had recognized her riding the TTC as they flipped through the paper. Others spotted her as she visited a convenience store. Most, she said, rushed over to tell her about “their struggle, their journey” and how they had donated to her campaign.
“When you’ve been in a place that I was at and you’re so alone and you feel that no one really cares, getting to a point where everyone knows you and your school is incredible and humbling,” she said. “It just confirms everything you have worked for and the journey you’ve been through.”
Her acceptance to the master’s program three weeks ago was nearly as big a shock as the total she so quickly raised. Though she still needs tens of thousands of dollars more to keep her from calling a Cambridge park bench home, she said she is confident she can reach the goal.
“The fact that Toronto banded together makes me feel like the sky is the limit. I feel so humbled.”