April 10, 2024
The Day’s Biggest Heart
Submitted by Sergio Galvez '03
Why are we largely afraid to set goals in life? The answer is simple, we are afraid to not meet them; few things scare us in life as much as failure. This morning as I prepared to send out my first Cares Day social media post, I immediately got a humbling sense of fear. What if I didn’t meet my goal of raising $500 dollars to Cal Lutheran’s TRIO Student Support Services? I chose TRIO SSS because I myself am an alumnus of the program, so meeting my goal was not only a sense of pride, I knew what this program means for the students it serves. I shared that in my multiple messages, and social media posts throughout the day, asking people to separate themselves from their hard-earned resources to support First-Gen students.
By 3pm, I was half way to my goal, and was suddenly energized by the fact that my goal was now all of a sudden, a possibility by the end of the day. So, I decided to record a video, sharing my excitement to my social media platforms with friends, family and acquaintances. “Y’all! I am half way there”, was how I started my monologue, and I ended with asking for people to help me reach my goal. Minutes later I get an unexpected text message. The message was a screenshot of a donation confirmation screen. That message was immediately followed by another message that read, “Took care of the other $250 bro”. When I thanked him for his generosity, his response was a simple, “I appreciate what you did for me, and all you do for the young kids trying to make a better living for themselves”.
The donor of what was the largest single donation to my TRIO SSS fundraiser, did not graduate from TRIO SSS, in fact, the young man that would eventually push me past my goal was not even a TRIO Upward Bound Alumnus. He was a student who could not be a part of our programs, but still asked me for help with his schooling and for advice on how he could one day attend college and eventually one day be in a position to transfer to Cal Lutheran. His life journey, has not yet arrived at Cal Lutheran, but It is my hope that he does not lose that dream. I will make sure he knows that he gave me the hope and drive I needed to more than double my fundraising goal, and I will remind him every year, that Cal Lutheran is waiting for his that part of his life to begin, whenever he is ready.