Fulfilling my best friend’s dream to become a Web Developer

Hello everyone!

First and foremost, I'd like to deeply thank you for showing interest in the fundraiser I am attempting to achieve. My fundraiser is really a gift for my best friend of all my life, Charlie. I've known him since we were kids; growing up together in the same neighborhood inevitably made us inseparable . Through out all my life, I've always had his friendship support, from the most trivial things (like learning about the world of comic books) to the most serious (like when my grandfather had a massive stroke in 2009).Even though Charlie suffers from clinical depression and severe anxiety, he never refuses any of his family or friends his time and help. Now, after so many years of unconditional love and friendship, I'd like to help him out with his biggest dream and goal - to become a web developer. Charlie applied to the ACLTC (Anyone Can Learn To Code) programming bootcamp in Chicago in 2014, which was the year of its inauguration. He was quickly accepted; his family and I were ecstatic for him, even though there was an undeniable worry in the back of our minds - how could he possibly afford it? His only way of supporting himself is through the odd jobs he takes; from coaching soccer to low-income youth to working for a company that sets up and puts away equipment for special events. Sometimes I see him after working 12-14 hour shifts, but he unfailingly always makes time to study online programming courses (including Codecademy and Treehouse). Even like this, we all knew this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and urged him to go with the little savings he had and figured we'd help him out within time. The tuition was initially $8,000, with monthly payments of $1000. As courses started, Charlie was extremely excited to be out of Los Angeles for the first time and be one step closer to becoming a programmer. He made great progress and received many compliments from the ACLTC founder and CEO, Jay Wengrow. Every time we'd Skype, he would excitedly describe the projects and assignments of that day. It was the happiest I had ever seen him.Tuition payments however, quickly caught up to him. After only a month, the money he had saved and the money his siblings sent were not enough to cover the monthly payments, even though he worked at a clothes factory with the family he was temporarily living with (whom he also helped financially). Charlie was able to talk Jay about possible extensions, and though he was willing to extend the deadline for the first month, we knew the program also needed the tuition money to keep running (after all, it was its first year). Even with all his efforts, Charlie had to withdraw from ACLTC and return to Los Angeles over the one thing that should never be an obstacle but unfortunately usually is - money. The sadness that was in his eyes when he returned was heart wrenching; but even like this Charlie continued to study. He left to Mexico with his mom and continued working, and after a year, managed to save $6,000. Unfortunately, when he came back in August, he found out his family had been struggling financially and was on the verge of getting evicted. Charlie then decided to pay off the unpaid rent and keep his family in their apartment, their home of 35 years. Now Charlie is back where he started financially, but still doesn't stop studying. He refuses to give up on the chance of returning to ACLTC to finish the bootcamp that challenged and inspired him. Still, because of the success of ACLTC's first year, tuition has now risen to $11,500. Even though Charlie is the hardest working person I know, returning to Chicago is nowhere near a financial possibility .This is why I would be honored to have people help me support Charlie's web-developing dream career by giving him the opportunity to finally finish ACLTC's amazing bootcamp. I promise it won't just launch the career of an amazing programmer, but it will also be the gift of a lifetime for one of the absolute best people i know. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading this. I have included the URL's for some of Charlie's projects and the ACLTC homepage.