After how difficult 2020 has been for all of us, it’s easy to forget that there are still good people out there doing kind things for others. That’s why it’s so heartwarming that a group of prison inmates from California came together earlier this month to raise $30,000 for a student in need.

It all started when the Palma School, a prep school for boys in the California city of Salinas, launched a partnership with the Correctional Training Facility (CTF) at Soledad State Prison. The partnership involved creating a reading group between students at the high school and inmates at the prison, with the goal being that both groups would learn from each other.

Known as “Exercises in Empathy,” the program was created by Jim Michelleti, Palma’s Director of Campus Ministry. He came up with the idea to pair men who have been given life sentences in prison with students who would discuss with them themes they’d found in literature, and more than a few surprises have come about since this program began.

When the inmates learned that one of the students at the Palma School was struggling to pay the $1,200 monthly tuition after both his parents suffered medical emergencies, they immediately stepped up wanting to help.

“I didn’t believe it at first,” Michelleti explained to CNN. “They said, ‘We value you guys coming in. We’d like to do something for your school … can you find us a student on campus who needs some money to attend Palma?'”

Miraculously, these “brothers in blue” were able to raise $30,000 from inside the prison to fund a scholarship for Sy Green, the student who needed it. Their efforts helped him to graduate and attend college at The Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

“Regardless of the poor choices that people make, most people want to take part in something good,” said Jason Bryant, a former inmate who played a major role in the scholarship effort. “Guys were eager to do it.”

One inmate even said that he donated his entire monthly paycheck of $100 to the cause, saying, “I get paid to do what I do, so, why not pay it forward and give it to someone else for a change?”

Green was touched by the sacrifices these inmates made for him, and he intends to keep visiting the prison when he is home from college on breaks.

“That’s only the right thing to do. Beyond the scholarship, the knowledge that they pour into you, that’s, that’s the best thing,” Green said. “They definitely take my future serious and they genuinely do care about me as a person.”

As for the inmates, they now want to create a scholarship for another student who needs it.

“I don’t feel like myself or my team or the guys who contributed to this incredible gift for Sy are special. We’re just people who want to do good things,” Bryant said. “If more people just decided to do good things, this world would be a better place.”