Students who were lucky recipients of the Ida B. Wells-Barnett Textbook Fund have shown their thnaks to all of those who have contributed in a new video. The attendees of Howard and Morgan State University are now able to better focus on their studies with the pressure of buying books now alleviated through the fund.
The video was shared on Facebook through the Fund’s founder and coordinator, Dr. Stacey Patton, official account. Stating that she was “so touched” by the video, Patton shared how her initial belief that only one student was expressing gratitude turned into multiple recipients of the fund.
“I thought I was gonna click on this thank you video from ONE student who received money from the Ida B Wells Textbook Fund,” shared the educator.
“But no, he took his camera and went around campus and got thank you messages from other students who also benefited from your generosity. This touched my heart because I have only met one of these students face-to-face. So it is nice to put faces to their email requests and CashApp info.”
As originally reported before on BLACK ENTERPRISE, the textbook fund has been life-changing for students through their matriculation at the HBCUs. Given $250 stipends, the money can be used for student need beyond textbooks, including equipment needed for courses and software for technology. Applicants are required to submit a form demonstrating need, with allotments given on a first-come, first-serve basis.
The fund is crowd-sourced, with the money for the students acquired by communal donations, often totally to $25k each semester, which helps approximately 70 students each fall and spring. For this fall term, over $30k was raised to help even more scholars.
The students in the video shared their feelings of gratitude within the video, with the fund helping those across a wide range of majors.
“I want to take a moment to thank all the donors of the Ida B. Wells Fund who have helped many others like myself take time out of their day to focus on education rather than purchasing books,” shared Valery Jean-Jacques, a junior majoring in television and film at Howard University.
Another student, political science major Nikkya Taliaferro, expressed how the donors of the fund are helping students who are financially independent fund their academic journey,
“The Ida B. Wells Book scholarship has allowed me to buy all my textbooks for the semester, which has really been a help, especially as I independently financially support myself through college. So one less stress, and another opportunity to continue going through my college experience.”
