Michigan State community raises money for student whose car was flipped after Big Ten Championship win

Michigan State students and fans took to the East Lansing streets Saturday night after the Spartans knocked off formerly unbeaten Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship game.

Around 2:30 a.m., a little bit after the time MSU student Steven Ripley returned to his apartment after work, several over-excited celebrators submerged on Ripley’s 1995 Honda Civic in the parking lot of his apartment building. From the window of his apartment, Ripley and his roommate saw as the fans turned his car onto two wheels and by the time Ripley and his roommate made it outside to the car, the car had already been flipped over.

The car was totaled and the costs for repair were beyond anything Ripley, a self-described “broke college kid,” could afford.

“It was probably one of my lowest points,” Ripley told mlive.com. “I was struggling financially, a broke college kid, even before my car was flipped over. I didn’t know how I was going to figure it all out.”

Ripley was at a loss, but a random act of kindness from a fellow Michigan State student came to his attention Sunday afternoon and changed everything.

Karen Wood, a 22-year-old civil engineering major, saw a photo of Ripley’s car and decided to create a website seeking donations to help Ripley repair his car or buy a new one. The site was launched at 4:30 p.m. Sunday “with a realistic goal of garnering a few hundred bucks for Ripley,” but the site took off beyond that.

“Originally, I thought we’d get about $500,” Wood told mlive. “Within that first 20 minutes, we had a couple hundred dollars. I changed the goal to $1,000, and we hit that within three hours.”

As of the time of this writing, over $6,000 has been raised.

Ripley was in disbelief about the fortunate turn of events.

“I pretty much experienced every single emotion,” Ripley said. “It was incredible. I never thought these people who don’t even know me would show me this kind of support. It really changed my outlook. It’s pretty amazing.”

That is an awesome display from the Michigan State community to help a kid who is working hard to make his way through college.

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H/T mlive.com

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