Svend Petersen, an 86-year old Beverly Hills Hotel pool manager recently found himself homeless and in debt. He spent his nights in motels or sleeping in his car. Now, thanks to his friends and kind-hearted celebrities like Sandra Bullock, this man's life is good again.
A man who lost everything
Svend Petersen is a man who lost everything he's worked for his entire life. However, he is not forgotten by his friends, and that actually makes him one of the luckiest men alive. Having real friends who are willing to do anything for you is a true fortune.
Svend’s friends, Thomas Marinello, Mercedes Kennedy and Art Galstyan decided it is high time they do something to help out their friend in need. They set up a GoFundMe page in order to gather money to rent a one-bedroom apartment or a studio in the Los Angeles for Svend to live in.
Petersen found himself in troubles because the realtors tricked him into selling his house quickly. That caused the IRS to come after him, and now every month they subtract money from his Social Security. To make things worse, all credit card companies canceled his cards, his checking account is in minus, and he owes $71,000 in taxes just for selling his house. In addition to these financial problems that made Petersen practically homeless, he’s had some serious health issues.
He is still recovering, but due to his age, the recovery is going rather slowly.
Svend dedicated 40 years of his life serving the Beverly Hills Hotel. He used to hang out with many legendary stars like Marilyn Monroe, Faye Dunaway, Katharine Hepburn and Gary Grant. They even had nicknames for him like “the Poolside Prince” and “the cabana King.”
GoFundMe page gathered five times more money than expected
Luckily for Peterson, he has good friends who made his cause so popular that it received a plenty of high-profile attention.
In the beginning, the goal of the GoFundMe page was to gather $5,900 which is enough to make a down payment, cover the costs of the first three months rent and food. That would suffice to get Svend back on his feet. However, in just ten days they gathered five times more money than they first intended to. It was all thanks to 350 good people one of which is famous actress Sandra Bullock.
Bullock donated $5,000 and even shared a short but touching note. She wrote “Everything is going to be okay” and signed her 7-year-old son, Louis.
Now that they have more than enough money, Svend’s friends can take good care of him. They found him a place to live and now plan to do more to make his life as comfortable as possible. They even plan to fix his glasses because he cannot move around without them.
