It was a dark, rainy day, and Justin Li, a senior majoring in journalism, thought he was going to have to walk all the way back or bike on a flat. Li had suddenly gotten a flat tire while biking, leaving him stranded with no help. 

Worst of all, he had only raised $3,000 of the $7,500 he needed for his biking campaign for children with disabilities, Journey of Hope. 

Li said he was about to give up until, out of nowhere, a group of bikers came and pumped his wheel back up.

“I was reminded again — people are good. I’m not doing this journey alone.” Li wrote in his Journey of Hope page after his flat tire incident.

The Journey of Hope has members of fraternity Pi Kappa Phi bike from Seattle to Washington, D.C., making “Friendship Visit” stops at their partner disability organizations. Though the actual fundraiser starts May 31, Justin is currently training in Italy as he studies abroad and has already raised $5,200. 

“When you are biking around, you show people how much you care for this cause,” Li said. “People won’t take you seriously until they know you care.” 

Li said he joined the biking fundraiser after getting fired twice from two different companies, and having a podcast — his passion project — with the USC Career Center fall through in his last year of school. He said he had doubts about what he was doing with his life and why he was feeling this sense of disillusionment to begin with, but joining the fundraiser gave him the ability to give back to others and refocus on his goals.

Corbin Berg, philanthropy chair of USC Pi Kappa Phi and a sophomore majoring in psychology, said Li makes friends with everyone. Despite starting his time at USC with language barriers, Berg said Li would go up to random people on the street and become their friend.

“You ever meet someone, you [think], ‘Wow, this person is 100% authentic,’” said Alex Bartolomei, a sophomore majoring in environmental engineering. “[Li] is as authentic as a person I know … that’s part of the reason he was willing to take on the challenge.” 

Jack Faust, vice president of USC’s chapter of Pi Kappa Phi and a sophomore majoring in political science, said Li was all about helping people, especially after seeing Li work for almost six hours straight building playgrounds for their disability-centric youth program, Ability Camp. 

“I’m really proud of how dedicated [Li] has been not only in his fundraising, but in his preparation,” Berg said. “Every single morning, he wakes up and he goes and does a bike ride, 12 miles. … I’m always watching his Instagram, and he posts everything.”

Faust said he has not seen anyone in the fraternity raise so much money while abroad. 

“[Li] set the standard high for us, and we want to do anything we can to support him,” said Linus Yao, president of the USC chapter of Pi Kappa Phi and a junior majoring in philosophy, politics and economics.

Despite all his success, Li said he still struggles balancing classes, biking and his social life throughout his fundraising campaign. He said he feels like a robot, as his days are almost always about biking. He said he’s had to skip dinner with his classmates to wake up at six in the morning to continue biking. 

Yet, Li said one of his main values is not giving up, which he learned from Mark Green, his friend and USC alum. Li remembers how Green started biking too, and would match the amount Li biked during his training. Because of Green, Li feels the confidence to keep biking. 

Yao said Pi Kappa Phi is extremely proud of Li because he has already done so much for their advocacy. He hopes Li’s campaign will show people how fraternities are not all about the social scene, but philanthropy and becoming better men.

“I really care about [this] cause, but more importantly, I care about giving back to the community, giving back to the people that serve me and giving back to this world,” Li said.