Two Georgetown University organizations hosted an all-day fundraising event April 18 in honor of Matteo Sachman, a first-year student whom others remembered for his spontaneity and kindness and who died Jan. 1. 

Two organizations with which Sachman was involved — Hilltop Taproom, an on-campus restaurant and bar located in the Healey Family Student Center (HFSC), and Homeless Outreach Programs and Education (HOPE), a student organization that offers resources to homeless D.C. residents — collaborated to create a special Matteo’s Menu featuring some of his favorite foods. The organizers donated all proceeds to the newly-created Matteo Sachman Magis Immersion Endowed Fund, which will financially support undergraduates who participate in Magis seminars, university-run religious immersion trips.

Laura Montgomery (CAS ’26), co-president of HOPE, said club members felt compelled to honor Sachman’s legacy as a friend and member of the club throughout his time on the Hilltop — a sentiment that translated into a resounding turnout at the event.

“When I was in the HFSC, I heard a lot of people just talking about, ‘The fundraiser’s today, the fundraiser’s today,’ and it’s people I don’t even know who probably haven’t even heard of HOPE,” Montgomery said. “The turnout was great. Most of the seats were filled most of the time and so many people were ordering the food that they had to stop for a bit to catch up.”

“Everyone just wanted to do anything they can to help memorialize him,” she added.

Montgomery said she remembers Sachman fondly from an interaction that she witnessed at a HOME outreach event on a rainy December day last year. After noticing a hole in a tent belonging to a homeless person, Montgomery said Sachman immediately stepped in to help.

“One of the people had a big hole in their tent, and so he went up to them and helped them,” Montgomery said. “He took the time to make a makeshift tarp over it — he spent a lot of time on it. I think that’s just who he was. He would do anything to give a helping hand to anyone.”

Sachman’s father Stephen said his family set up the fund to help keep Matteo Sachman’s memory and presence alive at Georgetown, while also providing the opportunity for students to participate in once-in-a-lifetime spiritual trips.

“We wanted to do something that would help Matteo’s memory live on to be representative of some of the values that he embodied, which were really, first and foremost, selflessly caring for other people,” Stephen Sachman told The Hoya. “It’s going to facilitate a lot of, I think, profound experiences for Georgetown undergrads in perpetuity.”

Fr. Mark Bosco, S.J., the university’s vice president for mission and ministry, who oversees the Magis trips, said Sachman approached him one Sunday about applying to join a trip to Rome for a course on the theology of pilgrimage.

“One of the reasons why the fund is going to help provide scholarship money to the Magis Immersion Seminars that Mission & Ministry runs each spring semester is because Matteo came up to me after Mass last September and told me he wanted to apply for the Rome course,” Bosco wrote to The Hoya.

Matteo Sachman’s brother Nicholas Sachman (SFS ’25) said Matteo, an avid traveler who visited over 20 countries, lived a life of adventure and discovery, building meaningful connections from Greece to Tanzania to Australia.

“From the moment he could walk, Matteo chased horizons,” Nicholas Sachman wrote to The Hoya. “With a zeal for the unknown and a boundless spirit, he embraced the world around him with an open heart.” 

This year, the Magis Immersion Seminars took students as religious or spiritual pilgrims to four countries: Italy, Greece, Jordan and South Korea.

Stephen Sachman said besides supporting students’ attendance on these trips, the fund will also allow students to learn about Matteo and his love of faith and travel.

“My family and I are going to make sure that everyone that gets a grant is aware of who Matteo was and what he stood for and why this exists,” Stephen Sachman said. “So it’s a very, very powerful memorial to a really beautiful human being.”

The fund will grant students like Eli Martin (SFS ’24), who traveled to Greece for a Magis seminar on St. Paul, the opportunity to engage in international experiences rooted in reflection and pilgrimage.

“The Magis seminar was so encouraging for me, spiritually,” Martin told The Hoya. “Seeing these places where he so boldly ministered and was put on trial, even put in prison, was just an incredible way to add color to my faith through this time.”

Nicholas Sachman said he will carry with him an appreciation for how his brother engaged with the world through an open mind and compassionate spirit.

“I am profoundly grateful to have journeyed alongside Matteo — to have been part of his endless quest for the next horizon,” Nicholas Sachman wrote to The Hoya. “As we remember Matteo, I hope we can hold close his unyielding passion for exploration and connection.”