“Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love,” says Elie Wiesel, and this beautiful story from Rhode Island can be taken as a perfect example of it.

A group of students at Providence College decided to organize a life-changing surprise for their dorm’s overnight security guard James Mogaji.

More info: GoFundMe

Students at Providence College teamed up for a very generous goal

Image credits: @provcollege

Students easily became friends with a security guard James, whom they liked to call “Unc”: “Those of you that don’t know James, he truly is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. He greets everybody with a smile and always welcomes conversations no matter what time of the night you run into him.”

Eventually, by getting to know each other better, students found out that the man hadn’t seen his family, including his son, in Nigeria for 11 years, therefore they decided to raise some money to help him do so.

Providence College was founded in 1917 by the Dominican Order and the local diocese

Image credits: wikipedia.org

“James is without a doubt the best security guard here at Providence College. He works four overnight shifts a week and the Raymond Hall 4th Floor,” read the message on the GoFundMe page that was set up by Brandon Reichert on the 29th of February. “He has expressed how much he enjoys his job here at PC, and we would love to be able to allow him to visit his family,” added Brandon. 

Students raised money to surprise a security guard with a trip to see his family in Nigeria

Image credits: Tarik Nachat

By organizing such a heartwarming surprise, Providence College students wanted to share their gratitude and love for James: “He does not know how much we appreciate him, and hope that this shows him how much he means to our community. We hope that others will join us in raising funds for James, as Raymond Hall and Providence College would be a completely different building without him. He has not seen his family in many years, and we believe that he is more than deserving to see his loved ones.”

The guard was described as one of the nicest people: always with a smile and an open heart

Image credits: @jackdnoon

Together with thousands of people’s help, students were able to raise $3,000 just within 24 hours and in a later update on the GoFundMe page, shared a photo of themselves presenting the money to the guard as he sat behind his desk.

“Tonight we were able to gift James with enough money for him to travel to Nigeria to visit his family in June!” Brandon wrote. “I’d like to thank everyone who donated as you can see what an impact you made on such an incredible man. All further donations will be given to James at the end of the school year in May to fund another trip!” he added. 

There was not a dry eye in the room when James dropped to his knees due to all the emotions

Image credits: GoFundMe / Brandon Reichert

In a short video that was shared on TikTok, James appeared completely shocked as he held his hands up to his mouth and later dropped on his knees to pray.

A person, identified as Daniel Singh, barely could hold back the tears while he was delivering a speech for Mogaji: “You told us a while ago that you wanted to see your family in Nigeria, which you haven’t seen in a long time, so we came together. We take care of our own. That’s what we do at PC,” he continued, before another student gave the guard the envelope gift and told him: “We love you. You’re part of the family.”

The entire story could definitely be an example of how moving the community can be. And I guess I couldn’t find any better final words here than Clare Pooley’s: “In a world where you can be anything, be kind.”

People were deeply touched by this generous act of love

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