The Woman Who Was Quiet… Until I Needed Her

I’m not going to say Dr. Vicki Robinson was stalking me.

But I WILL say she had been very, very quiet untiiiiiiiiiiil...

I needed her.

I discovered this the way most Move-In Day Mafia problem-solving begins.

With a Facebook post and a prayer that somebody’s auntie knows somebody.

See....what had happened was...

One of our Prairie View A&M students started the semester, but their housing still wasn’t settled. Classes were starting and campus life was moving forward… but the answer to where this student would actually be living had not arrived yet.

For some students, that’s inconvenient.

For OUR scholars, it can become urgent very quickly.

Because when you don’t have a parent’s home to go back to, no guaranteed couch, and no emergency hotel money, “we’re still reviewing your housing” stops sounding administrative and starts sounding like:

Where am I sleeping?

And this is probably a good place to pause and explain, just in case you're new here...

Move-In Day Mafia is a group of volunteers who show up at HBCUs to move students into their dorm rooms and then stay with them for the next four years. We support students who have aged out of foster care, are unhoused, or are navigating serious financial instability.

Our goal is simple.

Get them out of survival mode so they can actually BE college students.

We call it H.U.G.S.
Hope. Understanding. Generosity. Stability.

Which means when housing isn’t settled, it isn’t a paperwork issue for us.

It’s a life issue.

We had tried the normal channels and were waiting. Nobody at the university was being unkind. Universities are
systems, and systems move at...well system speed.

Students live at HUMAN speed.

So I did what I have learned actually works.

I asked my people.

Social media has become one of our strongest tools. I trust our community. Time after time, when a student has needed help, somebody knows somebody who knows somebody and doors open through relationships long before they open through processes.

So I made a simple Facebook post asking if anyone had a contact in Prairie View administration who could help us get clarity for the student.

​A few hours later, I got a DM.

So I responded exactly how a mature nonprofit founder should respond:
“LawdHamMussyGeezus.”

Then I told her I needed a minute because I had to pick my mouth up off the floor.

Because my very real question was: How did my Facebook post about one student’s housing make it all the way up to YOU?

Her response was short.

“I follow you.”

And suddenly I had a brand new concern.

How long had she been witnessing my shenanigans?

Here’s the part I didn’t understand yet.

That message wasn’t a one-time assist.

It was an introduction.

Dr. Vicki didn’t just help that student.

A few months later, she retired from the U.S. Department of Education… and stayed with Mafia.

She helps us interview scholars.
She helps us navigate universities when we don’t even know what questions to ask yet.
She steps into rooms our students don’t have access to and advocates for them with wisdom and calm.
She prays for this organization.

And during move-in season, she shows up and works like a volunteer, not a dignitary.

No announcement.
No spotlight.
Just presence.

I am still in awe of her humility and her willingness to get in the trenches while also quietly having my back.

I didn’t recruit her.
I didn’t network my way to her.
I didn’t even know to pray for someone like her.

I was just trying to help a student find somewhere to sleep.

But that DM was the first moment I realized something important.

Move-In Day Mafia wasn’t only growing in students.

It was growing in covering.

Sometimes God doesn’t just solve the problem you’re asking about.
Sometimes He sends a person who helps you solve the problems you don’t even know are coming yet.

​Dr. Vicki...Thank you for having my back!

This part always matters to me.

Because what we’re aiming for is not just survival.

It’s normalcy.

​Class.
Friends.
Participation.
Focus.

Here are challenges a few of them shared.

When students have stability, their lives start to look like college instead of crisis management.

​That’s the real miracle most weeks.

Leadership still surprises me.

I didn’t set out to run an organization.

I kept responding to needs… and eventually the needs formed a responsibility.

What I am slowly learning is this:
When an assignment is real, you are never expected to carry it alone.

Help shows up in different forms.

Some people bring resources.
Some bring time.
Some bring wisdom.
Some bring prayer.
Some bring protection you don’t even realize you needed.

You don’t always know to ask for them.

But God does.

And sometimes the first sign is a message you weren’t expecting from a person you didn’t know was watching… who had already decided you weren’t doing this by yourself.

See you next week. And as always, like, comment, subscribe and hug yourself for me.

And one last thing...

Tomorrow is the final day of Adopt-A-Scholar Week.

Each month our students share what they need and our community quietly makes sure small problems don’t become school-ending ones.

You can see the lists at MoveInDayMafia.org/AdoptAScholar

Or donate and we’ll shop for you at MoveInDayMafia.org/Donate