Josiah tells this story on himself: he showed up to his first gathering because a flyer mentioned free coffee, and he was, in his words, "a broke sophomore who would show up for a lot less than that."

What kept him coming back wasn't the coffee. It was a leader who noticed he'd missed a week and texted to ask if everything was okay — not to check a box, but because he actually wanted to know.

"Nobody had really asked me that in a long time," Josiah says. "It cracked something open. I started showing up on purpose instead of by accident."

He's since walked through two difficult seasons — a family loss and a job change — with the same small group beside him, and now does for newer students what was once done for him.