Who Knew A Spreadsheet Could Make Me Scream?

If you're new here, Move-In Day Mafia is a community of volunteers and donors who come together to support HBCU students who have experienced foster care, housing instability, or other major life disruptions. We give them decked-out dorm rooms and monthly care packages to see them through to graduation.

We call our supporters Mafia Miracle Makers, because that’s exactly what they do.

Now, most weeks in the Mafia Miracle Report, I tell you about two or three miracles.

Maybe a breakthrough for one of our scholars.
Maybe a moment where God showed up right on time.
Maybe a story that makes my heart swell and yours too.

But this week?

We’re only talking about one.

Because this week I want you to sit with something.

Something we discovered when we ran the numbers from last year.

And when I say discovered, I mean something that made me literally say,

“OMG… look what the Mafia just did.”

Because sometimes the miracle isn’t one dramatic moment.

Sometimes the miracle is what happens when hundreds of people quietly show up month after month.

And when we finally added everything up…

Well…

Let’s just say I had to read that spreadsheet twice.


TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YESES!

Recently, my team sent me a spreadsheet summarizing our 2025 Adopt-A-Scholar Week numbers.

Now let me pause right here and confess something.

I hate spreadsheets.

Not dislike.
Not avoid.

I mean full-on “why are there so many tiny boxes and numbers everywhere” hate.

So my team has learned to send them to me in bite-size chunks, because for some reason my brain just refuses to cooperate when I’m staring at rows and columns.

But this one?

This one stopped me.

​Because I started reading it the way I always do… left to right.

The first column was labeled Total Wishlist Cost.

And when my eyes landed on the number at the bottom, I blinked.

$86,074.

That’s how much need our scholars had across their wishlists last year.

And I remember thinking,
“Wait… we helped cover nearly ninety thousand dollars worth of student needs?”

I honestly had no idea the number had climbed that high.

But then my eyes moved to the next column.

And that’s when I really had to sit back in my chair.

Because that column showed what the Mafia itself had to cover.
$23,168.

Which meant something incredible had happened in the column right next to it.

Because if the total need was $86,074…

And we only needed $23,168 to close the gap…

That meant our Mafia Miracle Makers had stepped in and taken care of the rest.

$62,906 worth of those wishlists!!!!

Ooooooooweee, when I tell you I stared at that number…

I mean I stared.

Because that didn’t come from one giant donor.

That came from this family showing up month after month.

Little by little.
Item by item.

Someone grabbing a $3 box of tea.

Someone sending a $200 wig so a student could feel confident walking across campus.

Someone covering a $400 refurbished phone so a scholar could stay connected to school and work.

Hundreds of individual purchases that added up to $62,906 worth of student needs being covered.

And the remaining $23,168?

That’s where another beautiful part of this community stepped in.

Because not everyone loves shopping. (Lord knows I don't.)

So some Mafia Miracle Makers say,
“I'm sending you the money to grab that bible the Delaware student asked for.”
"Here's a donation to grab those sneakers the Shaw student needs."

Therefore, that final portion was covered through direct donations, corporate partners, and our monthly Miracle Makers, allowing the Mafia to make sure every single need was handled.

Which means between the generosity of this family and the support of our partners…

Every single wishlist need got covered.

And here’s what makes that even more powerful.

When this Mafia family steps in and covers needs like that, it frees up our budget to do what we came here to do in the first place…

Bring in more scholars and keep saying YES.

Because my team had just sent the numbers over while I was sitting in my coworking space.

And when I realized what I was looking at, I did what can only be described as a whisper scream.

You know the one.

Not a full scream because there are people around.

But loud enough that a couple folks popped their heads up over their laptops like,
“Everything okay over there?”

And I’m sitting there wide-eye grinning at my screen thinking,

OMG.

$86,074?! TOTAL!

Eight Six Thousand And Seventy Four Dollars!!!!

Do you understand what that means?

That means this Mafia family showed up month after month and covered over eighty-six thousand dollars of what our scholars needed to stay steady in college.

Not from one giant donor.

From people pooling together.

Hundreds of individual acts of generosity.

Until one day you look up and realize this community quietly covered $86,074 worth of student needs.

And yes, I know I've said $86,074 dozens of times already. I can't help it. This is huge!

Earlier this week, I was talking with a potential funder, and I found myself explaining something that’s become really important to me about how this work happens.

I told her:
When someone gives to Move-In Day Mafia, it means we GET TO GIVE more Yeses.

Yes to the bedding.
Yes to the supplies.
Yes to the phone a student needs to stay connected to school and work.
Yes to STABILITY.

And when I realized this family had created $86,074 worth of yeses for our scholars?

I just sat there smiling in that coworking space.

Because that’s not just generosity.

That’s family making sure our students never have to figure college out alone.

And while I was still sitting there grinning at that spreadsheet…

Another realization hit me.

Something I hadn’t even thought about before.

As I looked at the timeline of those purchases…

I noticed something that had quietly happened last year.

For the first time in Move-In Day Mafia history…

Our scholars were supported all twelve months of the year.

Let me say that again.

All. Twelve. Months.

And that matters more than people realize.

Just because school lets out in May, doesn’t mean the challenges our scholars face suddenly disappear.

In fact, for many of them, summer is the hardest season.

Some of our students are couch surfing.

Some are trying to figure out where they’re going to land until the dorms open again.

Some are navigating unstable housing situations that most college students never have to think about.

Which means summer support can be the difference between a student returning in the fall… or not returning at all.

So the fact that Mafia family kept showing up month after month…

January.
February.
March.

All the way through December…
means our scholars had something incredibly powerful.

They had family all year long.

I’m sitting in a coworking space looking at a spreadsheet that shows this Mafia family quietly stepped in and covered $86,074 (yes I said it again) worth of student needs.

Which made something very clear to me.

This isn’t just people donating to a cause.

This is family pulling together.

Month after month.
Item after item.
Yes after yes.

Until one day you look up and realize something incredible is happening.

Lives are changing.
Futures are stabilizing.
Dreams are getting the green light.

And that, Mafia Miracle Makers…

iiiiiis...

Miracles In Motion.

Every month, our scholars have to complete at least one sentence stem:

• I’m excited about
  
• I’m thankful that
  
• I’m looking forward to

Sometimes when I see numbers like $86,074, my mind goes all the way back to the beginning.

Back to Dallas.
Back to the very first Move-In Day Mafia.
Back to me stepping off that plane with $3,500 in our bank account and 13 students we had promised to move into their dorms.

Let me tell you something…

I did not have a clue how we were going to pull that off.

Not the furniture.
Not the supplies.
Not the logistics.
Nothing.

But faith knew something my spreadsheet didn’t.

Faith knew we would get there.

And sure enough, before that first move-in day was over, someone stepped in and added $17,000.

That was the first miracle.

Now here we are years later, looking at a community that showed up and covered $86,074 worth of student needs.

And it reminds me of a scripture that has always stuck with me:
“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.” Zechariah 4:10

That verse hits differently when you’ve lived it.

Because when you’re standing at the beginning of something God-sized, you almost never have the full picture.
You just have the first step.

Right now, I still don’t know exactly how we’re going to get to a Move-In Day Mafia chapter on every one of the 101 HBCU campuses.

But I do know this:
You don’t get there by waiting for perfect conditions.
You get there by starting.

Start dirty.
Start ugly.
Start unsure.

Start with your knees knocking.
Start with your teeth chattering.
Start with people wondering if you’re a little bit crazy.

Just start.

Because S.T.A.R.T. means:
Stop Talking And Roll Tenaciously.

And if you keep rolling long enough…

Those small beginnings will turn into something that makes you look up one day and say,

“OMG… look what God just did.”

So if that story about $3,500 turning into $86,074 worth of yeses stirred something in you…

There’s a way to help create the next miracle.

The Miracles In Motion Collective is the group of monthly Mafia Miracle Makers who help us prepare for Move-In Season and make sure we can close the gaps when our scholars’ wishlists aren’t fully covered, by joining the family of monthly supporters.

Because every time someone joins…

We get to give more yeses.

More yeses when students arrive on campus.
More yeses when needs pop up during the year.
More yeses when a scholar just needs a little stability to keep going.

If you’d like to stand with these students in that way, you can join the Collective here:
MoveInDayMafia.org/Monthly

And if this story made you proud of what this Mafia family is building…

Take a second to like, comment, and share so more people can see what happens when a community decides to show up.

Because the more people who see this movement…

The more yeses we get to give.

​Hug yourself for me.