 Oooooo I am about to braaaaaaag on one of our Mafia Scholars, and you’re not ready for this glow-up. From foster care at two years old…to Capitol Hill. And she’s not done yet. This week’s Mafia Miracle Report is short, but that’s only because we’ve been knee-deep in interviews with the next cohort of Mafia Scholars and I’m gonna be honest. These stories? Heavy. Beautiful. Brave. And they’re wrecking me in the best kind of way. Just in case you are new here... I'm TeeJ, the founder of Move-In Day Mafia. We provide decked-out dorm rooms and monthly care packages for HBCU students who have aged out of foster care, are unhoused, or grapple with severe financial hardships. And every Friday, (mostly,) I write about the miracles that we regularly walk in. Let me introduce you to one of our powerhouses. Her name is Alexis. Alexis is one of our scholars at my alma mater, THEE Howard University. and she is walking proof that foster care doesn’t get the final say. Alexis has been in foster care since she was two years old. But she’s never let that stop her from chasing excellence. When we met her last year, she had already locked in her spot as a resident assistant and earned her place at the table through nothing but grit, grace, and GPA. I still remember her very first interview last year. There was something about the way she carried herself, the way she spoke, the strength in her quiet. I knew she was destined for something bigger. Move-In Day Mafia was supposed to walk with her to the finish line. But here’s the part I will never forget. While she was doing a media interview during move-in, I overheard her say, “It meant so much to be able to pick my own hair products.” That stopped me cold. Because that is what makes our Mafia Miracle Makers different. We don’t operate with a “take what you get” mentality. We don’t hand out boxes with whatever’s left on a shelf. We ask. We listen. We honor. We give CHOICE. Our scholars have been told “no” their whole lives. What we do is give them back a “yes." Yes to comfort. Yes to preference. Yes to dignity. Yes to being seen. And baby, Alexis has taken that yes and run with it. ✅ She’s now interning on Capitol Hill. ✅ She’s thriving as an RA. ✅ She’s a voice for foster youth. And she’s a living, breathing, shining, walking testimony of what happens when someone is loved consistently, completely, and without condition. She just shared her foster care story on a national podcast, and I’m not even gonna try to tell it for her. I want you to hear it in her own words: Go listen to her full story here: 🎧 https://open.spotify.com/episode/6XYQBzRkKcBvUxeNlwL0l0?si=hX2Wf0TuSdCT-gBpHYBClw  We don’t operate under a “take what you get” model. We ask, “What do YOU want?” And then we deliver with dignity. Our Mafia Miracle Makers and Miracles In Motion—that’s you, our donors and volunteers—you make that kind of care possible. Every sheet set. Every snack bin. Every shampoo bottle they recognize and love. That’s you. Your monthly giving is what fuels these miracles. It’s how we keep showing up again and again. And now, we’re in the final 24 hours of this month’s Adopt A Scholar Week. TOMORROW IS THE LAST DAY! We’ve wiped out wishlists before. Let’s do it again. Whether you give $25 for a gift card or go big and cover a full need, you’re not just giving support. You’re giving freedom. You’re giving choice. You’re giving a scholar the gift of feeling seen. 💳 Join us now at MoveInDayMafia.org/AdoptAScholar 💥 AND SPEAKING OF CHOICE… Y’all. We are THREE WEEKS OUT from… 🎉 COUNTDOWN TO THEE HBCU BINGO EXPERIENCE 🎉 This Ain’t Your Grandma’s Bingo. Back in 2020, when the pandemic shut down in-person graduations, we threw the most epic online party ever created for HBCUs. Virtual HBCU Bingo was born, and over four Saturdays, we played with nearly 500 HBCU grads, raised over $1 million in cash and prizes, and made headlines for how fun, wild, and celebratory it was. Now, it’s our turn to do it LIVE for the very first time. 🗓️ July 12 in Atlanta 💰 Thousands of dollars in prizes 🎁 Surprises. With a capital S. 🎲 Blackjack. Craps. Casino tables. 🎧 A Celebrity DJ I cannot WAIT to reveal And big big vibes. Period.  And full transparency? Shout out to my team who’s surviving all 8,472 of my ideas. But they know how I roll. We’re making history again. This is our first-ever in-person fundraiser. And we’re putting our whole Mafia Miracle Maker magic behind it. Get ready. Grab your tickets at MoveInDayMafia.org/HBCUBingo  How ‘bout for this week’s Miracle Motivation, we draw from Alexis, who is the epitome of where you start is not where you have to end up. She started life in foster care at the age of two. Navigated system after system. Reached adulthood still carrying the weight of abandonment and survival. And yet? She refused to let her trauma narrate her future. Now she’s a Howard scholar. Has studied abroad. A Capitol Hill internship. And y’all, this scholar dared to not just survive the system, but redefine herself right in the middle of it. That’s what reminded me this week: you don’t have to wait until things are perfect to start blooming. You don’t have to be fully healed to begin. You don’t have to have all the answers to make the next bold move. Alexis did the inner work while walking out the outer journey. That’s what real audacity looks like. So wherever you’re standing today, let her story remind us: your start may be in struggle, but your end can be in overflow. That's it for this week. Please like, comment, and subscribe, and I'll see you next week. And don't forget...Adopt A Scholar Week ends tomorrow! Please help us wipe out the wishlists! MoveinDayMafia.org/AdoptAScholar  Remember that old expression: “We make plans, and God laughs? Whelp...I lived that today. But wait...just in case you are new here... I'm TeeJ, the founder of Move-In Day Mafia. We provide decked-out dorm rooms and monthly care packages for HBCU students who have aged out of foster care, are unhoused or grapple with severe financial hardships. And every Friday, (mostly,) I write about the miracles that we regularly walk in. Typically, I write this report late Thursday night, so it drops first thing Friday morning. But yesterday? I had nothing. No words. No energy. Nada. We’re deep in interviews for the upcoming class of Mafia scholars, and these stories are heavy. Beautiful, but heavy. I was emotionally drained. I even said to myself, "We might have to skip this Friday," and went to bed. But God, in His perfect timing, made other plans. See, I normally do my daily walk around Atlantic Station in Atlanta much later in the day. I’m a night owl by nature, so a 9:00 a.m. meeting today qualifies as "early." But since I was already up, I decided to get my steps in sooner. And that’s when it happened. As I rounded a corner around the pond, I noticed two kids and an adult wearing blue shirts from the Boys & Girls Club of Metro Atlanta. The man was looking at a paper and motioned for the boys to stand by a statue, and snapped a picture. For some reason, I immediately thought, "They are on a scavenger hunt!" I don't know why, but that made me smile. And guess what? I was right! As I passed by, the counselor called out, "Excuse me, can you help us?" God appointments always get me hype, so I stopped immediately. "Of course I’ll help." Turns out, one of their scavenger hunt items was to do an act of kindness for a stranger. I told them, "Well, I AM a stranger for now, but I don’t really need help with anything." Then, it occurred to me, maybe they could record a video that HELPS me get the word out about Move-In Day Mafia! Now pause. You need to know this backstory. You might have heard me mention that we are gearing up for Mafia's first in-person fundraiser, THEE HBCU BINGO EXPERIENCE on July 12, 2025. Well, we are 30 days out, so time to cross some t's and dot some i's. Lately, I’ve been praying (but not really praying-praying) about where we’re gonna get enough volunteers. I had specifically thought, "I wish we had more kids around who needed community service hours," as we don't have a lot of scholars in Atlanta. But it was more like a passing thought that needed to be addressed at some point soon. So back to the scavenger hunt... While I’m filming this little video with my new friends, Chance and his two mentees, I hit the part where I say what Move-In Day Mafia does. Before I can even finish saying "we help students who have aged out of foster care or are unhoused," Chance’s eyes light up, and he starts jumping up and down. "YOU WERE ON THE SHERRI SHOW! I SAW YOU!" Y’all. Chance was literally bouncing, and my heart melted. It was all on camera, too, because he never stopped recording. *I need to blur the kids' faces, so I'll drop the video next week. Afterward, we got to chatting, and he casually mentioned that he’s working on returning to Morehouse. So naturally, I asked, "Do you know any students at Morehouse, Spelman, Clark, or Morris Brown that Mafia might be able to help?" His face lit up again. "I think so!" Then an idea hit me, "Do any of your Boys & Girls Club teens need community service hours?" and I explained THEE HBCU Bingo Experience. He loved it. "Yes! All the time. Juniors and seniors always need hours. Let's do it!" BADA BING BADA BOOM! We exchanged info right there. Whew! Just like that, God checked off something I didn’t even properly ask for. A divine appointment on a sidewalk. We parted ways with a hug and a "talk soon." And as if it couldn’t get better, when we met again at the other end of the pond. By this time, Chance's phone had died, which meant they couldn't document the rest of the items on the scavenger hunt. Say less! My phone was fully charged, so guess who happily got roped into a scavenger hunt? I am smiling even as I type because it really was a fun way to unexpectedly kick off my Friday.  I started my Friday on a literal scavenger hunt with two amazing teens and a fired-up counselor. Only God could orchestrate something that perfect. So yeah...that’s how God dragged me outta bed and dropped me into a scavenger hunt full of answered prayers.  Now I've got to run. The next round of scholar interviews is starting. In the meantime... 🧾 ADOPT A SCHOLAR KICKS OFF TOMORROW Summer Survival Season starts June 14 through the 21st. That means in most cases, we’re sending $25 Visa gift cards instead of Amazon packages, because many of our scholars don’t have stable housing right now. Our goal? $200 per scholar, per month. Y’all already know what time it is. Get your heart ready. Get your wallet ready. The miracles move FAST when you do. MoveInDayMafia.org/AdoptAScholar The more I obey, the less I trip. I’ve racked up enough God receipts to know this for sure... Obedience doesn’t always make sense in the moment, but for me, it has always made miracles. When I’m doing what I’m supposed to do, even when I feel incapable, even when I don’t have the full picture, even when it makes absolutely no sense and borders on insane, even when I feel like skipping out completely, He still shows up. And the more I obey, the less I find myself panicking or spiraling. Because I’ve seen how He moves. I’ve watched Him drop answers in random sidewalk conversations and send confirmations through scavenger hunts. Precision isn’t a problem for God. He is never late. Just strategic. So now? I’ve learned to relax. Not in a lazy, passive way, but in a faith-filled, peace-rooted way. I do my part. I prepare. I show up. And then I watch Him breathe on it in ways I couldn’t have scripted if I tried. That’s why I say: The more I obey, the less I trip. Because once you've seen God's track record? You stop pacing and start praising. Hope you have a great weekend and hug yourself for me. Next week, I will tell you who has agreed to be our DJ for Thee HBCU BINGO EXPERIENCE! He fell into our lap. It's another Miracle story! Grab your ticket at MoveInDayMafia.org/HBCUBingo. Don't forget to subscribe, like, and comment!  I’ve been sitting on this miracle for a few weeks because, honestly? I needed to just sit still and feel all the feels. Now! I’m ready to holler all about it. Because last week, I told you about how Container Store, Amazon, and Best Buy came together for Mafia, and I have ANOTHER Best Buy story. But wait...just in case you are new here...Move-In Day Mafia provides decked-out dorm rooms and monthly care packages for HBCU students who have aged out of foster care, are unhoused or grapple with severe financial hardships. Several weeks ago, when I sat on the plane to head to deliver my very first HBCU commencement speech at Jarvis Christian University, I got an email that made me stop cold, and I had to stifle a scream cuz you know...I couldn't get put off the plane. Fortunately! I didn't have to stifle it for long. The plane was delayed, and they had us disembark. What had me scream-gagged?  Best Buy is giving Move-In Day Mafia $30,000. THIRTY. THOUSAND. DOLLARS. I couldn't get out my phone fast enough to call ShaDonte, my good news deliverer. The first words that tumbled out of my mouth..."Dude! You don't send this in email...This is 'I need to CALL TeeJ' news." But if you know me, you know I had one more question: “Ummm, not to sound ungrateful... but that’s coming with some People Power, right?” ShaDonte ain't new to my shenanigans so he already knew how I got down so he wasn't surprised. "YES! OF COURSE!" If you saw Best Buy in action last year at Morehouse, Clark Atlanta, and Miles College, then you already know. They weren’t standing around for photo ops. They were moving furniture, running cords, setting up TVs, and doing the gritty work with quiet excellence. They showed up. And they showed out.  📺 BUT HERE’S THE REAL BACKSTORY… Back in 2016, I started speaking a completely delusional faith declaration by using a hashtag on social media: “#BestBuyIsMySponsorTheyJustDontKnowItYet”  And I said that for ten years before I even knew what I wanted them to sponsor. All I knew was that Best Buy was my favorite store and that somehow, we were gonna ride together. Fast forward to 2023, I learned one of my Facebook friends actually worked at Best Buy corporate. I found out after the fact, though. "After the fact of what, TeeJ," you might ask. Unbeknownst to me, she had been slowly, strategically getting Move-In Day Mafia’s name in front of the right people. And in August of 2023, I got a call that started with "TeeJ, are you sitting down?," followed by "Best Buy is gonna give you $10,000!!!!!" OMG OMG OMG... That delusional hashtag of faith I had whispered for a decade? IT. CAME. TRUE. And you wanna know what’s even wilder? That first $10,000 wasn’t a one-and-done. Nope. It sparked a full-on partnership. In 2024, Best Buy came back and DOUBLED IT—dropping $20,000 on us like it was nothing. But they didn’t stop at dollars. They pulled up with People Power...fluffing pillows, putting up wallpaper, hauling snacks, assembling beds and showing our scholars what excellence looks like when it has hands and a name badge. And now? 2025 rolled in with $30,000 more. Oh, and they’re not done. Not only are they investing in our scholars again, they’re also the official sponsor of THEE HBCU Bingo Experience happening July 12 in Atlanta. (You already KNOW they understood the assignment.) Best Buy. Bingo. Blessings. It’s all connected. IT TAKES A MAFIA (AND A MULTIBILLION-DOLLAR SPONSOR) Here we are—three years in, and Best Buy ain’t just sponsoring. ✅ They’re building with us. ✅ They’re showing up. ✅ They’re setting the pace for how corporate partners can move with meaning. So, if you're reading this wondering whether your company could make a difference? Ask Best Buy. Then ask yourself: What are we waiting for? Because right now, applications are OPEN for next year’s class of Mafia Scholars. That means new dorms. New care packages. New emergencies. New wins. And yep...new miracles waiting to be made. Wanna be the next one? We’ll gladly make room. AND SPEAKING OF MIRACLES... We’re gearing up for another Move-In Day season and whew... The scholars applying this year? Real. Raw. Resilient. Their stories will wreck you and inspire you in the same breath. Their dreams are still standing, even if life tried to knock them flat. Let me introduce you to one of the applicants we met this week. S.T. has been in foster care for 13 years. She doesn’t know her dad. She has no contact with her mom. When she was around 5 or 6 years old, she and her three siblings were taken from their mother. S.T. and her younger siblings, now 16 and 14, were adopted but mistreated. She was the one who reported the abuse. It took three years for the state to believe her and remove them from that adoptive home. Three years. Meanwhile, she’s been placed in three different group homes. The system kept moving her, but she kept showing up. She said she was angry. Explosive. Exhausted. At school, she was quiet, polite, respectful. But at home? That rage had to go somewhere. She said she used to want to be like the older “bad girls” because they didn’t seem afraid. They looked like survival. But here’s what gets me... Even in the middle of all that? She kept straight As. She said therapy helped her process the anger. She said being heard matters. She said she still gets an attitude when she feels dismissed, but now she knows how to name it. And that, my friend, is why Move-In Day Mafia exists. Because that kind of fire, that kind of brilliance, that kind of resilience? It deserves to be seen. Backed. Celebrated. It deserves a room that doesn’t just hold her, but heals her. More scholar stories are coming your way soon. And I’ll be letting you know exactly how you can help us bring these rooms to life, brick by brick, blessing by blessing. Stay close. It’s almost move-in season. A few months back, I submitted to speak at a TEDx event. They turned me down. But instead of slamming the door, they said something wild: “This topic? It’s not right for this TEDx. But it’s perfect for our next one.” And when I saw the theme for that next one? “It’s Bigger Than Us: The Power of We.” Whew! If that ain’t the whole Move-In Day Mafia mission in a sentence! So I reapplied.  I got selected. And now... I get to give my SECOND TEDx Talk. That initial “no” wasn’t rejection; it was divine redirection. A setup for something better aligned, better timed, and bold enough to match my assignment. So here’s your reminder: If the door closes, don’t assume it’s locked. God might just be remodeling the whole room for you. Now I get to walk in ten toes down, knowing this moment was made for me. And yours is coming too. Whelp! That's a wrap. See you next week. Don't forget to subscribe, like, comment, repost and hug yourself for me! And be sure to grab your tickets to THEE HBCU BINGO EXPERIENCE! MoveInDayMafia.org/HBCUBingo |
AuthorTEEJ MERCER - TeeJ never set out to be an entrepreneur. She definitely didn’t plan to run a nonprofit. But after 25 years in Hollywood, editing and producing for major TV shows and movie studios, she saw a story that needed to be told. More importantly, she saw a PROBLEM that needed to be solved. Archives
June 2025
Categories |
RSS Feed