How this couple got an anonymous gift of $12K -- and is paying it forward
A future graphic designer and high school math teacher meet in college, fall in love and start to live happily ever after in Charlotte … until a $12,000 unexpected bill falls into their lap.
In this fairy tale, the Department of Education plays the role of the villain. Jake and Rachel Hendrick had a plan after college and getting hitched. Jake would teach at a Title 1 school for at least four years to satisfy a requirement for two TEACH grants, worth $8,000, that helped put him through school.
Each year, he dutifully filled out his paperwork, including a principal’s signature, stating that he was, indeed, teaching at a school for low-income students (Harding University High School).
Everything was going according to plan. The couple had a goal to be debt-free within the first five years of their marriage, and with mindful choices and budgeting, they were happily on their way.
Until a bombshell dropped in 2016. The paperwork Jake submitted during year four was never received.
A minor clerical error, surely. He would likely need to re-submit his paperwork, maybe even pay a small late fee. He was satisfying the teaching requirement, after all.
But apparently, that’s not how this works. All his efforts from the past four years would end up eradicated, leaving him with a bill for the full amounts for his grants — plus interest. That added up to about $12,000.
Jake is not alone — a study recently obtained by NPR shows thousands of teachers have had their TEACH grants converted to loans for seemingly minor paperwork infractions. A class-action lawsuit is being sought. Earlier this year, advocacy group Public Citizen filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit for records relating to the management of the grant program.
The couple was devastated.
“We really tried to fight it,” Jake said. “We tried everything we could. We thought we could get it cleared up because I was fulfilling my commitment. It was just really discouraging. Having debt and loans already feels like chains. It’s almost debilitating, seeing how much of your money is going for things you borrowed in the past.”
After trying to clear up the clerical error and consulting lawyers with no success, the distraught couple turned to their church, Church at Charlotte, with a prayer request for wisdom.
Life went on for the couple, which also included a $3,000 car repair on Jake’s car that summer. In fact, he was at the car service center when he got a phone call from the pastor, asking him to drop by the church; he had something for him.
The next day, Jake headed over to the church, never suspecting that what was about to happen would change their lives. The pastor handed him a check for $12,000, telling Jake that this was an anonymous gift from someone in the congregation who heard about the couple’s struggles.
“He called me and said, ‘Somebody gave us $12K. I don’t know what to feel about this. I don’t know what’s going on,’ Rachel said.
“I was beside myself,” she said. “I can’t comprehend someone giving us $100, much less $12,000. We hadn’t been reaching out or asking for financial support, we just wanted wisdom.”
Jake picked Rachel up from work later that day. Still shocked, she got in the car and said, “I can’t believe someone gave us $1,200.”
He said, “No, no, add an extra zero.”
This was in 2016, and the couple still doesn’t know who gave them the money. Rachel said they will likely never know. “Those people heard our story, heard our hearts. We wrote thank you cards to the pastor to give to the donors. We sat back and thought, ‘we can’t let this go in vain.’”
The couple became debt-free in 2017. “It was unbelievably freeing,” Jake said. “It was hard to accept it, we didn’t feel deserving. It’s become part of our testimony and part of why we wanted to get out of debt.”
Jake now teaches at Covenant Day School. Rachel is a graphic designer for Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, creating print, web and media collateral. She also owns Mercy Creates, where she hand-paints watercolor designs featuring scripture.
After this gift changed their lives, it became their mission to change others’ lives. “It would have taken us an extra two years combined to pay off that amount: the grant loan amount plus the extra debt we already had,” Rachel said. “Someone gave us two years of our lives back.”
They were able to take out a mortgage on a new home, which has given them the space to house an intern with her employer’s summer intern program. During the school year, they will host an exchange student from China.
As the couple maps out their monthly budget, they place giving at the top of the priority list. “We really got super focused on making sure that moving forward, when we have the opportunity and we feel led by the spirit, that we want to give to other people,” Rachel said.
The first person they helped was a single mom who lost her job for two weeks; they gave her $600. Jake’s dad is a pastor in Michigan and when the church was hit by a vehicle, the couple sent them a check to help with costs associated with losing their sign and their front door. When friends needed money for an adoption, “we wrote them a check then and there,” Rachel said.
Since they’ve become debt-free and been given that gift, it has changed their whole view of giving. “We try to be as open and available to our friends and our friends’ needs when they come,” Rachel said. “No strings attached. We are able to just freely give and enjoy it.”
Photos by Moving Mountains Photography
This story was originally published June 25, 2018 at 12:38 AM with the headline "How this couple got an anonymous gift of $12K -- and is paying it forward."