West Hartford Yoga Instructor Moved by Community's Support in Her Adoption Effort

The recent attention that West Hartford Yoga instructor Nykki Poole has received in her efforts to adopt a Bulgarian boy with Down Syndrome has resulted in more than $6,000 in donations since late November.

Poole, who already has adopted two boys with Down Syndrome, had raised a little more than $6,000 when Patch called attention to her effort to adopt a 3-year-old boy she has named Elliott. 

Poole estimates that she needs about $30,000 to adopt Elliott from Bulgaria and bring him back to her Newington home.

Since an article appeared in Patch in November - and a subsequent feature that was published in the Hartford Courant - the total amount that Poole has received on her gofundme.com site jumped from $6,200 to $11,455 as of Dec. 11. She also received another $1,000 cash from an anonymous donor - more on that later.

Poole, for her part, said she is floored by the generosity and outpouring of support she has received from people she does not know.

“I’m not a big crier … I’m more of a go-getter,” Poole said in a telephone interview Wednesday evening. “I think I have cried three times every day since the Patch article went out. I am so moved. This act of kindness, love and support ... I really don’t know what to do with it other than move forward and be the best mother I can for this little boy.”

The donations have come in all sizes. And, to be sure, the larger ones in the hundreds of dollars have been nice.

There was the anonymous man who waited until after one of Poole’s yoga classes in West Hartford to give her an envelope with $1,000 in cash.

“He gave me a big hug and said, ‘Thank you,’” Poole said.

But Poole is most amazed by the donations that have been made in smaller amounts.

“Some people have donated $5, $10, and I look at that and I think, ‘They didn’t have that to give,’” Poole said. “It’s not the $500 that blow me away all the time, although I am blown away by them, too. [But the smaller donors] are giving me what they don’t have already. I am so touched by that.”

All of the donations will go a long way toward helping Poole reaching her goal to bring Elliott home. She needs to complete a dossier for immigration, which, if approved, could clear the way to have Nykki travel to Bulgaria as early as February.

Regardless, Poole said that she wishes she could do more to communicate that her gratitude goes beyond the perfunctory.

“I wish the English language gave us more than ‘Thank you,’” she said. “I promise to do the right thing with him. I will do everything I can to make it right for him. I won’t let these people down who have faith. They’re not just giving money, they’re giving money because they are hopeful. They’re hopeful that something good can come out of this. I want to show them that I understand.”

To donate to Poole’s adoption efforts, visit her gofundme.com page here.