CAPE CORAL, Fla. — Goodwill offers more than just great deals! Cape Coral Community Correspondent Bella Line attended a weekly free citizenship class at Goodwill off Del Prado and found support from the organization and volunteers for people pursuing U.S. citizenship.
Volunteer facilitator Keith Edison, a retired police chief, has dedicated himself to helping residents navigate the challenging path to citizenship. Over the past year, he has assisted five people through the naturalization process completely free of charge.
"I'm excited to help them realize that dream, so they can more fully participate in this democracy," Edison expressed passionately.
Becoming a citizen involves living in the U.S. for at least five years, applying, and passing a serious of rigorous exams covering U.S. history, proper English writing, and verbally demonstrating a full understanding of English to an immigration officer.
“There are words they have to understand, there's different punctuation they need to write within a right sentence," said Edison. "It's very specific and if it's wrong, a little bit, it's wrong, and they don't get credit for it.”
Among those benefiting from the program are Elsa Nunez and Maiyelis Almodovar, who are both originally from Cuba.
"I like American history," Alaodoar shared. "My daughter she explained to me some things but now I'm in this class, I understand what happened before the constitution and everything."
Nunez added, "This country is amazing for a reason."
Fox 4 wishes Nunez and Almodovar the best as they complete the naturalization process in the coming months.
