New trend: People crowdfunding their New York City dreams

Moving to New York City, that concrete jungle that dreams are made of, comes with a number of risks. Will I find a job? Will I find a decent, affordable place to live? Will I be swept up in the crime wave of de Blasio’s New York? It takes guts, and it takes hard work to establish yourself here, but once you’ve done it, it feels so damn good. Alternately, you could skip all the hustling and hard work and just get your friends to pay for your move here on GoFundMe, which is a thing that people are doing.

AM New York talked to a few people who said they had used GoFundMe to fund moves to the city, usually asking friends and strangers to donate three or four thousand dollars so they could afford air fare, apartment deposits and new identities so they aren’t permanently known as “that person who used crowdfunding to move here.”

A quick search through GoFundMe reveals that yes, holy shit, this is really happening. Mixed in with people asking for funds for a vacation here (which is also weird) are pleas from people who want to follow their dreams of jazzercise instruction, of attending FIT, of…undetermined, but need help from whoever comes across their fundraising page. We wouldn’t do this, but not for the reason you think. How shitty must it feel once you realize that people are willing to pay to make you go away?