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A video has gone viral on TikTok this week after one college student shared how she and a friend collected money to help fund their recent spring break trip.
TikToker @justhereforthegoodvibe, whose name is Amelia Cavanaugh, and her friend, decided to write Amelia's Venmo username on their car in hopes of making an extra few bucks to help pay for gas.
"Help us afford gas," said white letters painted on the back of a car which is shown in the first frame of the video. The video has now been viewed over 3 million times and received over 2,000 comments.
"#Springbreak'22 #Brokegirls" they wrote below the plea and included Cavanaugh's Venmo username.
The idea appeared to work as Cavanaugh showed numerous screenshots taken from the app of people sending the pair money.
On Venmo, users are asked to write in a note to accompany any payment.
"Have a good spring break. From the guy behind you," read a note attached to a payment of $15.
"From one broke b**ch to another! Enjoy spring break," read another attached to a payment of $3.
In 2021, Forbes reported that the app, which is only available in the U.S. had 65 million users.
According to the app, when users exchange Venmo payments, neither person has access to the other's payment information. There is no information shared with the recipient of a payment aside from the giver's username, whatever is included in the payment note and of course, the payment amount.
"ONLY the sender of the payment has access to the payment method used (for example: the bank account, debit/credit card number, etc.). The recipient will NEVER see this information," according to Venmo's Help Center.
Cavanaugh wrote Newsweek that she and her friend were inspired to write the message on their car after seeing others who had done the same. The drive from Virginia to Florida was 12 hours, but she said they kept the message on for the entire trip. Overall, she said, the two raised just over $300.
In the video, Cavanaugh also included footage of people handing them physical cash to help them fund their trip.
In one photo, a woman who appears to be Cavanaugh is seen holding up a $100 bill.
Cavanaugh said that just two people physically handed them cash. She said the person who left the biggest impression on the pair was the truck driver seen in the video.
"We were just driving and all of the sudden we hear a horn and see the driver waving us to pull off the road in traffic," she said. "We were a little skeptical of being stopped in traffic, but he was so kind. It meant a lot to us that someone would take time out of their trip to do something so generous."
She said everyone who gifted them money was "extremely kind."
"Good for 1 gallon of gas," another person wrote in their Venmo payment of $4.99 featured in a screenshot in the video.
"From the mom of a college student also currently on spring break!" said another good samaritan with a payment of $25.
Commenters got a kick out of acts of kindness from strangers documented in the video.
"All faith in humanity = restored," one commenter wrote.
"Aww sometimes humans are cute," another wrote.
One commenter said they'd tried a similar thing for their birthday but did not get as lucky.
"We got a total of $1.01 from people who just wanted to judge our driving," the commenter wrote.
Newsweek reached out to Amelia for comment.
Updated 03/24/2022, 1:22 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with comments from Amelia Cavanaugh and additional information.
