Bringing the Biola community together to raise $4000 within 24 hours for my roommates tuition due the next day.

When our floor found out that Austyn wouldn’t be able to attend Biola, we were quite sad. The few weeks leading up to our discovery, we had already known that there was a possibility but weren’t ready to believe that he would need to leave. GUS had been praying for Austyn’s financial aid situation to come through(before and after we found out). The day before Sept.3(Friday I believe), GUS gathered around Austyn, prayed for his transition to CBU and accepted this was the only option left for him. That night I was distraught because 1) I didn’t want to lose a room mate and RA 2) our floor and Austyn accepted his leaving.

I was not quite on the same page yet. I’ve always seen opportunity when other’s don’t. I think that’s because my Dad often showed me all the possibilities(even when I was in doubt) available starting from square one. The Biola community is a very unique one in that we’re all seeking to grow in our faith, which in turn makes living on campus so encouraging! The community is without a doubt one of the best parts of Biola and I’m so happy God brought me here!

That night(Thursday), I thought to myself “it’s not too late for the funds to come in, I’ve seen God do miracles in India, and if He does it there, He can definitely do a miracle here at Biola!” God has provided for me abundantly through His grace. He has always provided. So…Richie(another good friend of Austyns) and I sat down and wrote up/set up a Facebook event to invite all our friends around campus to donate to Austyn’s tuition. I’ve seen Biola students give generously in the past and since this was a very relatable struggle for many students, I felt many would jump at the opportunity to help out. At 11pm the event officially started. In the next hour, I had received $300!

The next morning, I checked my email and $1000 had been donated!(it had been under 10 hrs only). As I went through my day, friends of mine and mutual friends of Austyn were donating. I’m assuming word of mouth spread around campus because people I didn’t know contacted me to find out how they could help. Text messages and phone calls were coming in all day to contribute! By 11am, I had received $2000. I was stoked! I told everyone I saw, “God is here! He is providing!” By 3pm, I had $3000. The donations ranged from loose change to $500 and this was all being donated by students! I did not do this alone though! Besides God helping me, I had my friend Richie who was receiving phone calls and collecting money. At 7pm, $4000 was collected! $4000 was raised under 24 hours! But this wasn’t the end yet! Students continued to contact me to donate, even though they knew we had reached our set amount. We had surplus! We found later, that the surplus was needed and was the right amount for the accounting department.

In the morning, Austyn, our friend Luke, and I went to the accounting department and turned in the money. Austyn was in shock. Just 24 hours ago, he was set on leaving. Now he was set to stay! Austyn told me “I don’t deserve this, I really don’t deserve this”. I responded, “None of us deserve this life, it’s only because of the grace of God…”.

In the picture(left to right)

Richie, Me, Austyn