Who is Pam Alexandroff? GoFundMe raises over $18,000 as community rallies around Chicago teacher

Pam Alexandroff, a Chicago teacher, has captured the hearts of the nation as a GoFundMe initiated on her behalf has raised well over $18,000 to support her as a thank-you for her work on fighting against the windfall elimination provision (WEP).

Pam Alexandroff is a retired teacher who gave over two decades of her life to teaching in public schools in Chicago. Prior to that, she'd worked in human resources, having paid into Social Security for years.

While not much else is known about her, a website called Park Trust reveals that for the academic year 2013-2014, she was granted the National Educator Award for Outstanding Environmental Stewardship. At the time, she served as a 5th-grade teacher at Jose de Diego Community Academy.

All about Pam Alexandroff's run-in with Social Security: What we know as retired teacher faces a lifetime of financial insecurity

About a year before she retired, Pam Alexandroff approached Social Security to get a rough idea of what to expect in addition to her pension. However, she was confronted with the news that it would be a mere $200 a month, a stark contrast from the decent-sized check she was expecting.

At the time, a Social Security agent reportedly explained to her that the change could be attributed to the windfall elimination provision (WEP), which was passed 40 years ago.

“It was a mind-boggling experience,” she told Katie Couric Media.

The policy was born in 1983 as a way to circumvent the “windfall” of Social Security. It therefore reduces the provision of Social Security benefits for all workers who are granted a public pension or disability benefits from any job that is not registered with Social Security.

While its goal was to initially prevent workers who got non-covered pensions from being discriminated against as low-wage earners with higher Social Security benefits, over the years, critics contend it "unfairly" reduces such benefits for public service workers, Reuters has reported.

In an official campaign on Move On, Pam Alexandroff described her qualms with the policy:

"It is time to stop the lawful robbery of our Social Security benefits. Public service workers and those who earned pensions abroad qualified for them, and as a defined benefit social insurance program, our accounts were funded in advance."

Describing the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) withholdings as a "lawful method of theft," Alexandroff claims the only ones to beat the brunt of it are a "targeted group of citizens. This is un-American and represents discrimination."

"We are not the problem, and the trust funds should not be shored up on the backs of deserving Americans and their families," she states.

In the wake of her financial struggles, a GoFundMe was launched as a show of support. With the goal set to $10,000, over double has been raised, with alms coming in from almost 700 patrons. The initiative is being spearheaded by a fellow teacher named Sylvie Warmath, the page reveals.

"There are thousands of people in the WEP repeal movement group, and we all now benefit from Pam’ detetmination. If we all donate about $5, we can show Pam our gratitude in a meaningful way. Let’s pay her for all the work she did on behalf of all public servants who can now rest easier in retirement. This is the least we can do to thank her!!!" Pam Alexandroff's GoFundMe page states.

In an update shared on the page, Sylvie penned a vote of thanks to all donors, noting that "Pam is shocked and overwhelmed by your donations to thank her."

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Edited by Anshika Jain