I WAS GOING TO WAIT. I COULDN'T

Haaaaaaappy Friday!

Okay. I need to tell you something before we get into it.

We are in the middle of The Finish Line & The Front Door. For the past three weeks, we've been celebrating our graduating seniors. The ones who came in with nothing and are walking out with EVERYTHING!

Today belongs to something I just...could not hold.

But first...if you are new to Move-In Day Mafia...we are a "mob" of volunteers who provide decked out dorm rooms AND monthly care packages for FOUR years to HBCU students who have aged out of foster, are unhoused, or grapple with severe financial hardships.

Now! Eevery month when they submit their care package wishlists, our scholars tell us their good news. But this month, we also asked them about their summer plans. And when those responses started coming in, I sat down to read them and I didn't get up for a minute.

I was sitting with about 50 responses from 50 kids. Students who came into this program with nothing... no housing, no safety net, no one in their corner who had ever stayed. And what came back to me this April?

Maaaaaaan.

I couldn't wait. I just needed you to know right now.

Because YOU did this. Every item you purchased off a wishlist, every gift card, every dollar you donated, every post you shared... it compounded.

And these scholars? They've been putting in the work.

So today, we're pausing The Finish Line & The Front Door series.

​Becauuuuuse oooooooweeeeee you gotta hear what my babies...YOUR babies have been up to.
​

---

​
​Wins...Wins...And More Wins!

​Clark Atlanta Scholar: Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. He was adopted out of foster care and then put out at 18; he's been on his own at Clark. And he still showed up and crossed Kappa. In HBCU culture, that is no joke.

Savannah State Scholar: Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. She's been couch surfing since she was 10. Doesn't know her dad and mom's in jail. Crossing AKA has been her dream since 10th grade.

Prairie View A&M Scholar: Study Abroad to Tanzania. She's nervous about the long plane ride and traveling with people she doesn't know yet. But she's going. Across the world. Because of YOU.

North Carolina A&T Scholar: National Foster Youth Institute in D.C. She's been in foster care since she was 7. Now she's headed to Capitol Hill to shadow her congressman and fight for policy change. Her voice. On Capitol Hill!

Florida A&M Scholar: First Year in Master's Program, Moving Into Her First Apartment. She entered Mafia as a senior at Bethune-Cookman. She'd been couch surfing since her freshman year. Now, she's at FAMU, wrapping up her first year in her Master's program AND moving into her first apartment.

Texas Southern Scholar: Selected for Air Assault School. He's been cycling through foster care since he was 2. And now? Studying to be a pilot, headed to Air Assault School for the summer. Our baby is out here doing the most. In the best way.

Prairie View A&M Scholar: Passed Her Life and Health Insurance License Exam. Mom killed in a car accident when she was 17. Dad kicked her out a month after the funeral. And now look at her. She already got her Life Insurance license. Now she's doubling up. And if that wasn't enough, she's also learning day trading on the side. I can't make this up.

Paul Quinn Scholar: Landed a Full-Time Job With Wells Fargo. At her internship. They hired her. She's excited, a little scared, and ready for her new chapter. That's how we like it.

Benedict College Scholar: Crossed Delta Sigma Theta. She entered foster care at age 6 with domestic violence and neglect. She's overcome academic challenges, aged out of the system, and made Dean's List all four years. Now she crossed Delta and is graduating with honors. Line process and all.

Lane College Scholar: Graduating 4th in Her Class. FOURTH. IN. HER. CLASS. A girl who used to sleep behind an Autozone, not knowing where her next meal was coming from.

---

And This Is Why We Don't Stop

Every single one of these wins happened because of consistency. Because we showed up. All year long.

Not just during the school year. Not with a "Great year, see you in the fall." All year.

Because when May rolls around, summer doesn't pause for our scholars. It gets harder.

That's why we don't disappear.

Adopt A Scholar Week is happening RIGHT NOW, through April 21st. Usually, the wishlists are full of items selected by the scholar along with 2-$25 Visa gift cards for perishables and incidentals.

But right now? With the 2025-26 school year coming to an end, our students are headed out on various adventures and some will be couch surfing...heading into uncertainty and what they need is flexibility.

Therefore, for the summer months, we send some students all gift cards so they can take care of their needs without worrying about Amazon deliveries.

So whether you have a budget for a $3 box of snacks or $300 in multiple gift cards, a scholar needs you.

👉🏾 Head to MoveInDayMafia.org/AdoptAScholar and look around. You'll see both options waiting for you.

And if shopping isn't your thing right now, you can always donate directly at MoveInDayMafia.org/Donate and we'll make sure it lands where it's needed most.

We've got until April 21st.

Every month when our scholars submit their care package requests, they have to finish a sentence.

They choose one:
“I’m grateful that…”
“I’m excited that…”
“I’m looking forward to…”

So we like to share some with you:

Last Sunday would have been my daughter, Dot's, 20th birthday.

When she died, naturally, it was hard. And for a long time, I thought joy died with her.

I walked through what I coined "My Journey To G.R.I.E.V.E."
G — Give yourself permission to go to pieces.
R — Reassess your new reality, because there is now a huge void in your life.
I — Integrate time in your day to have a pity party and feel every emotion. Heal.
E — Express your feelings to a friend, counselor, a pastor, or in a journal. Do NOT hold it in.
V — Sometimes you oscillate between being okay one minute and in tears the next. This is normal. It can last for years.
E — Exist. Sometimes that's all you can do. And that's alright.

But here's what I'm telling you today, sitting on the other side of it: I walked THROUGH the grief. Not around it. Not past it. Through it. And little by little, not all at once, but little by little, it got better.

Some days I still can't believe she's gone.

But last Sunday, when I was reading through these 50 scholar responses, when I saw a scholar crossing Kappa, a scholar running for office, a scholar heading to D.C. to fight for foster youth policy, a scholar graduating fourth in her class, I cried. Not because of the hole that Dot left. Because of the 50 kids standing in that hole and filling it with their own light.

That's what I couldn't have predicted about grief. That it doesn't end your capacity for joy. It expands it.

So I want to ask you something today. What grief are you walking through?

What loss, what disappointment, what version of yourself or your future have you had to let go of?

Because here's the thing: You don't have to wait until you're "over it" to start reaching toward joy again. You don't have to wait for the grief to be neat or small or manageable. You can walk through both at the same time. The sadness and the celebration. The missing and the gratitude. The loss and the light.

That's what our babies are teaching me every single day. That scared and proud can live in the same sentence. That anxiety and hope can show up in the same survey response. That you can be nervous about your future and still be ready for it.

So I want to invite you into that same both/and space.

Walk through whatever grief you're carrying. But don't stop reaching. Don't stop giving. Don't stop believing that on the other side of loss, there is light.

The world needs what happens when you do.

Have a great weekend, Mafia Miracle Maker!

If this made you think about something... or someone... go ahead and share it. You never know who might need that reminder today.

And if you're not already part of the Mafia Miracle Makers family, make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss what's coming next.

I'll see you next week.

Hug yourself for me!

P.S. We have until April 21st. If you haven't checked the wishlists yet, now is the time. Every item you grab says something loud and clear to our scholars: You're not doing summer alone. 👉🏾 MoveInDayMafia.org/AdoptAScholar