“Hi baby, how are you doing?” Vicke Davis asks a Barrett student as she swipes their Sun Card, granting them access to the dining hall. Davis, an employee at the Barrett Dining Hall, always strikes up a conversation with students, or her “Barrett babies” as she likes to call them, and manages to brighten each student’s day in just a few seconds.
One of these conversations, with Barrett junior Quintin Woods, proved to be a life-changing event. On a whim, Woods asked Davis about her dream vacation, and she replied with seeing the Northern Lights. This simple chat turned into the perfect opportunity for Barrett students to show their appreciation for the much-loved dining hall employee.
“It was almost more of a fun question — I didn’t have the aspiration right away,” Woods says. "I just kind of asked, ‘what is your dream trip?’ out of curiosity. It was just kind of something that didn’t start out as what it ended up as, but it kind of formulated in that way.”
The short conversation sparked a GoFundMe page for Davis to be able to achieve her dream. Although most of the fundraising took place over the semester break, Woods didn’t plan it around the holiday season.
“I love doing things for other people in general,” Woods says. “The main goal that I have with this is to encourage others to do the same type of thing. Even with a little bit of effort you can really do a lot of good and change a lot of things. Whatever you set your mind to, you can really give back.”
In just 48 hours, more than 150 students and organizations raised over $2,000.
“Initially (the goal) was $1,500, but then I ended up making it $2,000 because I kind of priced up the trip and see how much it would cost,” Woods says. “I pretty much saw it as ‘if there is excess money, it can’t hurt at all.’ The total raised was over $2,400, so it exceeded the goal set, but then I bought a nice camera for her to take with her and document her trip. It was fantastic to see it reach the goal and then exceed it.”
On Jan. 21, nearly 100 Barrett students congregated in the dining hall and surprised Davis. The money was presented on a jumbo check with a background of the Northern Lights. After Woods presented her with the check, Davis appeared to be holding back tears as she hugged each student.
“I’ve only got 30 minutes (on my lunch break), I can’t kiss everybody!” Davis exclaimed. “Ya’ll going to have me crying in my sushi! Ya’ll are my favorite babies and you know it. I got to bring back a lot of keychains.”
As the excitement began to wind down, Davis realized her dream was actually becoming a reality, all thanks to her "Barrett babies."
“Thank you, I love you guys,” Davis said. “I am going — I have to see the Northern Lights!”
