Theoni Balasi: Finally Made It
Theoni celebrates with an official and with family as she accepts her citizenship certificate.
By Susan Smith
Sometimes the Chaldean Community Foundation is the last stop on a long string of stops. When the last stop offers a welcome in your own language and you’re met with kindness, those two things can go a long way.
Told by her daughter-in-law, this story is about Theoni Balasi’s journey to gain U.S. Citizenship at the age of 90.
Theoni came to the United States to live with her son and daughter-in-law Samantha in 2008 after the death of her husband. Both families lived in Greece, sharing a building and meals, and caring for each other. Samantha is a teacher here as she was in Greece and has always had a strong relationship with her mother-in-law Theoni.
Traveling back and forth between Greece and the U.S., Theoni had the best of both worlds — visiting with family, but with a home in the U.S. and aspirations to become a citizen.
Samantha took all the right steps to help Theoni. She obtained and filled out the necessary paperwork, coaching and preparing her mother-in-law for the naturalization interview. After several unsuccessful attempts to obtain citizenship for Theoni, the pair lost hope.
A few years later, they stopped by a location that no longer offered help with becoming a citizen; however, this organization pointed them in the direction of the Chaldean Community Foundation. Samantha and Theoni had no idea what to expect; of course, that day the lobby was overflowing, and extra chairs had been brought out. Fluent in English and Greek in a full lobby of people speaking Arabic and Chaldean, they were concerned that once again they would be turned away.
After finally being seated in front of a case worker, the two were introduced and greeted in Greek by one of CCF’s immigration team. They relaxed, and progress began.
“We were introduced to the immigration team, and they reviewed each step we took and made us feel like family,” said Samantha. “Our experience was one of compassion and kindness, as my mother-in-law finally became a U.S. Citizen.
“Beyond happiness, we were also connected with additional CCF staff and received assistance with the applications for Medicaid and guardianship,” Samantha went on. “That experience was easy and again the staff made us feel welcomed and like family.”
For Theoni, receiving her U.S. citizenship has been a long time coming. Now she can obtain a U.S. passport to visit friends and family in Greece without having to obtain a visa — that is worth celebrating!
She plans to visit her 86-year-old twin sisters who are still living in Greece. When receiving her citizenship, Theoni summarized it best when she shared, “I finally made it.”