Tonight, on an all new episode of The Saturday Six Pack, I’ll be talking with EMU student Ramone Williams, the subject of a recent investigative piece on homelessness among Michigan’s college students in the online publication The Bridge. Since the story first came to light over the holidays, over $25,000 has been raised for Williams online, and now bigger media entities are beginning to take notice… Following is the segment that ran last night on Detroit’s FOX2 News.
And here’s a clip from the accompanying story:
…After taking a break from school to care for his sick grandmother he promised her that he would go back and finish college. But with little money he says he had to decide between paying tuition and having a place to live. That’s when his grandmother’s van became his home on campus
“If I could save $500 to $600 in rent by having grandmother’s vehicle I can make do,” he said.
Victoria Burton-Harris sits on the board for Covenant House Michigan, an organization that helps young people who do not have a place to live. She heard about Ramone’s story and decided to set a GoFundMe account.
“Within a day, the goal of $10,000 had already been met and was well on it’s way to 15 or 20,000,” Burton-Harris said.
With so many donations Ramone felt this was more than enough and requested that he not receive any more money. But he wants people who still would like to donate to send money to EMU’s Magic Program, which helps students who are homeless or have experienced foster care. Ramone says it helped him but the program is underfunded…
As mentioned above, Williams has asked that people stop donating to the GoFundMe page set up for him, and begin to give instead to the page established for EMU’s MAGIC (Mentorship, Access, Guidance in College) program, which has already raised close to $5,000 to help fund their work with homeless students on campus like Williams. [Representatives from MAGIC also say that they’ve also received $40,000 in pledges outside of GoFundMe since this story first broke.]
If you would like to tune in tonight and hear my conversation with Williams, the segment will begin at 6:00 on Ypsilanti’s AM 1700.