Even in a world full of bad things happening all the time, there is a special breed of people we can count on: friends.  Also known as the family we adopt along the course of our lives, friends are legally obliged to be there for us, no  matter how irrational, emotional, or straight up crazy we’re behaving. It’s all specified in the contract a person signs when they take on the job of being a friend. Once the contract is signed there is no time left for being wishy washy, because being someone’s friend is nothing short of a serious job.

Maia Waye‘s friends are very well aware of this, which was illustrated beautifully when they got together on Friendfund to collect money in support of Maia’s art and Maia, when she came home one day to find her house had been robbed. The funding pool that raised money that helped Maia go on when she lost everything she had to her name, was one of our fastest closing pools of all times. It only took five days to complete, which apparently surpassed even the expectations of people who set it up.

“The pool creator Tina sent me the link just days after the fundraising began and it had already receached the goal she had set! It was done almost as quickly as it was put out to people,” Maia commented on the generosity of her friends.

In addition to raising money that would help Maia get back on her feet, her friends also campaigned to collect some money she could put towards her art, so she could resume with normal living as soon as possible. They took her art, put it in frames and set up a stall where Maia made her first steps back towards financial independence. “When you’re faced with difficulty your world gets pretty small for a few days until you recover from the trauma of loss. This fund was a BIG bright light to me that told me everything was going to work out and I was going to be ok,” Maia explained. “This was such a heartfelt kind gesture. I never expected people to get together and do such a wonderful thing.”