Finals breakfast
$20/month
Feeds ten students pancakes and grits at 10 PM during finals week.
- Ten late-night breakfasts
- Study room snacks
Alumni
You climbed these stairs too
Fifty-four years of students, and most of the bills are still paid by people who used to sleep on the couches.
Last academic year
What your giving did
August 2025 to May 2026, counted from the sign-in book and the van log.
2025–26
841
Students upstairs on an average Thursday
- 1Highest was 141 in Homecoming week, with the overflow watching on the TV downstairs.
- 2Cooked by eleven church kitchens on rotation.
Figures presented to the board in June 2026.
Read the annual letter (PDF)Give monthly
Pick the thing you remember
Monthly gifts let us plan the semester. Pause or stop any time.
Most chosenKeep the van running
$45/month
Gas and insurance for one van for a month of Sundays.
- Four Sundays of rides
- Fifteen seats each week
- Driver background checks
Retreat scholarship
$100/month
Sends two students who couldn't otherwise afford the fall retreat.
- Two full scholarships
- A thank-you note from each student
Gifts are tax-deductible. Every monthly giver gets The Stairwell, our alumni letter, four times a year.
Since 1972
Fifty-four years on Fayetteville Street
The house has had three owners and two roofs. The stairs are original.
1972
Four students in an attic
A chaplain and four students start praying on Thursday nights in the attic of a rented house across from the main gate.
1979
The first van
A used church van from Greater Fayette starts the Sunday run. It breaks down on its second week.
1994
The house is ours
Alumni raise $61,000 in eighteen months to buy 1904 Fayetteville Street outright.
2008
Sunday plate begins
Mother Lomax of Garnett Chapel decides students look thin and starts sending supper over.
2017
An alum comes home
Rev. DeShawn Pettiford, class of 2007, becomes campus minister.
2026
A second van and a ramp
Van 2 with a wheelchair lift, and a back ramp so the first floor is step-free.
Who keeps the lights on
Churches that sponsor Upper Room
Eleven congregations in Durham give monthly, cook Sunday plate and send their members to drive the vans.
Bring your church in- Greater Fayette Missionary BaptistSince 1979
Gave us our first van and still drives Van 1.
- HopeStreetAMEZionFounding church
Its chaplain started the Thursday prayer meeting in 1972.
- Covenant Light COGICVan 2 partner
Hosts the praise team for joint worship every spring.
- Garnett Chapel CMESunday plate
Cooks Sunday plate twice a month and guards the cobbler.
- Fayetteville Street Alumni FundEst. 1994
The alumni group that bought the house in 1994 and still covers about half the budget.
The Stairwell
Four letters a year from upstairs
Who's leading, what the students are reading and whose class year got the loudest cheer.
Read by 1,900 alumni
- StudentsA record 141 on the first Thursday, and a polite visit from the fire marshal
- VanVan 2 has a lift, and a name: Mother Lomax
- HomecomingBrunch on the front yard, October 18