‘Broke’ college student reveals how donations on Venmo helped pay for her gas money on road trip

‘Ask and you shall receive gas’

(@justhereforthegoodvibe/TikTok)

A college student has revealed how people donated gas money, through Venmo, to help fund her latest road trip.

In a recent video shared on TikTok, Amelia, @justhereforthegoodvibe, could be seen standing with her friend in front of her car’s back window.

On the window, they wrote: “Help us afford gas #SpringBreak’22 #BrokeGirls.” Amelia’s Venmo username was also included for anyone who wanted to donate to their road trip.

Throughout the clip, Amelia shared screenshots of different payments that she received, ranging from $3 to $25.

On Venmo, users have to write some form of a note whenever they make a payment. In transactions sent to Amelia, some kind and funny notes included: “From one broke b**** to another! Enjoy spring break” and “Have a good spring break. From the guy behind you.”

“Ask and you shall receive gas,” another note reads.

In the video, Amelia also included a clip of a man in a truck giving her $10 cash and shared a picture of herself holding up a $100, next to her friend.

Amelia tagged Venmo’s TikTok account in the caption, noting how the company made their spring break trip “possible.”

As of 24 March, the video has more than 3.7m views, with TikTok users in the comments praising people for sending Amelia money.

“This actually made me so happy!” one wrote. “People CAN and ARE still kind! without asking for something in return!”

“All faith in humanity [is] restored,” another said.

Many viewers applauded Amelia for using the idea, one of which said: “Yes!!! I’ll never hate on college kids for doing their thing!!! Broke spring breaks were the best memories!!! Have fun y’all!!!”

However, other TikTok users said that they’ve put their Venmo usernames on their cars before but didn’t receive the same results as Amelia.

“Dude I wish,” one wrote. “I posted my apps for my anniversary trip, and no one sent anything.”

“So why when I went to Nashville on a bachelorette trip and put this on my vehicle, I did not get a dime LOL,” another comment reads.

Speaking to The Independent, Amelia said that she received a little over $300 and only had to use a little bit of her own money to cover gas expenses.

She also emphasised how grateful she and her friend were to everyone who donated money. “It was really incredible seeing everyone helping us out and being so kind,” she said. “We were very surprised to see how many people watched our video and left kind messages along the way. Very thankful for everyone that helped us out.”