Mrs. Tammy receives crowdfunded Christmas gift of more than $6,000
December 16, 2015
By Dan Bodden
Tammy Terry walked into Starbucks Wednesday at 7 a.m., just like any other workday. She left more than $6,000 richer.
Terry, a Starbucks employee affectionately called “Mrs. Tammy,” can often be seen interacting with students. She received a $6,060 gift crowdfunded on a gofundme page started last week by community and leadership development sophomore Alison Brown.
Several students gathered outside Starbucks at 2 p.m. to write notes to Terry and to decide on final details of the reveal. Terry’s husband, George Terry, arrived and met with the students who organized the campaign. He had been clued in about the gofundme a few days earlier by a friend of Tammy’s.
“I read some of the comments that people were saying on there,” George Terry said. “It’s just unheard of sometimes, to care about somebody that much, the way she cares about people.”
Brown spread the message on the gofundme page Sunday to meet at Starbucks at 3 p.m. for the reveal. By 2:55 p.m., a crowd had formed around a screen and microphone in the back of Starbucks. Brown pulled Tammy Terry, who was finishing her eight hour shift, aside and led her to the front of the crowd.
Brown explained the gofundme campaign and Starbucks Location Manager Benna Deney spoke briefly about Terry’s role at Starbucks. The gift was then presented, and a few students prayed for her. The screen showed some of the messages students had typed for Terry on the gofundme page.
According to Deney, Terry found out a few days prior that people were raising money for her. Nonetheless, Terry said she was shocked at the gift and was visibly emotional.
Terry can often be seen talking to students around the Starbucks in W.T. Young Library, asking questions about their day and discussing topics ranging from exams to the Bible.
Music education junior Brandon Hoagland, present for Wednesday’s reveal, used to stop by Ovid’s every Tuesday and Thursday with his girlfriend. Terry, who worked at Ovid’s in its old library location, always approached them to have a conversation.
“It seems like on campus you don’t really get a lot of interaction, especially not with people who work at the dining areas,” Hoagland said. “Just actually getting to talk to someone who is generally invested in what’s going on and remembers your name and remembers what you said last time, it was really different and really special.”
Related: Mrs. Tammy’s surprise gift raises more than $4,000
Brown created the campaign last Monday with an initial goal of $2,000, inspired by a photo on the Humans of UK Facebook page.
“It just got me thinking about how much she has impacted my life,” Brown said. “I decided I wanted to do something for her, so I went out on a limb and started a gofundme. And then this all happened.”
Terry said she was blessed by the gift and enjoys talking with students.
“Especially, with the freshmen coming in, they are a long way from home — most of them are — and I just enjoy the students,” Terry said.
Terry has worked for UK for 15 years. Terry was relocated to Starbucks in August once Ovid’s moved to its new location in The 90.
“When they started building the new 90, she asked if she could come and work for us in anyway,” Deney said. “I said, ‘Yes, I’ll take you in a heartbeat. No questions asked.’ She’s just keeping the whole culture here.”
Building operator Deborah Godfrey, who also works inside W.T. Young Library has known Terry for years, said she enjoys how Terry reaches out to others. She encourages students to do the same.
“It never hurts to talk to people.”
Posted by Humans of UK on Monday, December 7, 2015
“You’d be surprised at the friendships you can make and the connections you can forge when you open yourself up to meeting someone that’s outside of what you would normally think of,” Godfrey said. “Say, ‘Hi,’ to the maintenance person or the custodian or the server. People are more interesting than you think.”
Brown plans on keeping the gofundme open till Dec. 20 to raise more money from those in the community who hear about the event. She will then either withdraw the money for Terry or give Terry access to the gofundme account.