Two years after the 19-year-old’s death, his family is asking people to set the image found on his phone, Christ in the crown of thorns, as their own.

Cash was nineteen and could have put anything on that phone. He chose the Cross. This year we are asking people to make Cash’s screen saver their screen saver.”

— Shannon Meyers, Cash’s mother, Live Like Cash Gaudio Foundation president

LYNCHBURG, VA, UNITED STATES, September 24, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — The Live Like Cash Gaudio Foundation is asking the public to mark Sept. 30, the second anniversary of Cash Gaudio’s death, by downloading the image that was on his phone’s lock screen and setting it as their own for the day. The image, a painting of Jesus Christ wearing the crown of thorns, is available free at https://livelikecash.org/sept30 in sizes for every current phone.

Cash Gaudio was shot and killed in his own driveway on Sept. 30, 2024. He was 19. In the minutes after he was shot, he used his phone to call his mother and ask her to call an ambulance.

The family did not learn what was on that phone until the week before Christmas 2024, when Cash’s belongings were returned. His father and sister turned the phone on at the family’s dining room table. The first thing on the screen was the crown of thorns.

“Cash was nineteen years old and he could have put anything on that phone,” said Shannon Meyers, Cash’s mother and president of the Live Like Cash Gaudio Foundation. “He chose the Cross. And when he picked that phone up to call me, that is what he was looking at. This year we are asking people to make Cash’s screen saver their screen saver. We are asking them to see what he saw, a few hundred times in one day, and to think about why he kept it there.”

The Sept. 30 request has three parts:

– Download the lock screen image at https://livelikecash.org/sept30. Files are sized for iPhone, iPhone Pro Max, Android, older iPhones with a home button, and iPad.
– Set it as the phone’s lock screen for the day.
– Post a screenshot to Instagram or Facebook, tag the Live Like Cash Gaudio Foundation, and use the hashtag #LiveLikeCash. The foundation plans to reshare every tagged post on Sept. 30.

The download page includes step-by-step instructions for iPhone and Android. The foundation does not know who painted the image, which carries a partial signature, and is asking anyone who recognizes the artist to contact the foundation so the work can be credited.

“Most people pick up their phone somewhere between 100 and 300 times a day,” said Micah Gaudio, Cash’s father and co-founder of the foundation. “Every one of those times, before a text, before an app, before anything, my son looked at Jesus on the cross. Nobody made him do that. That is what it means to live like Cash. We would rather a thousand people saw the Cross on Sept. 30 than a thousand people posted a picture of him.”

Micah Gaudio first described the discovery in a public Facebook post on Dec. 22, 2024, and asked readers whether they would be willing to put the same image on their own phones. The Sept. 30 campaign is the first organized effort to answer that question.

Since Cash’s death, the Live Like Cash Gaudio Foundation has raised more than $250,000 and named 13 Live Like Cash Gaudio Scholars, student-athletes in Central Virginia who receive scholarships in his name. The foundation has set a goal of raising $1 million by the end of 2028.

The foundation’s next public event is the second annual Gears for Gaudio car and truck show on Saturday, Oct. 17, from noon to 6 p.m. at Blue Ridge Community Church, 2361 New London Road in Forest. Details and tickets are at https://livelikecash.org/events/gears-for-gaudio.

About the Live Like Cash Gaudio Foundation

The Live Like Cash Gaudio Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Lynchburg, Virginia, founded in memory of Cash Gaudio. The foundation funds scholarships for student-athletes with a heart for God and their community and supports student-athletes at Liberty Christian Academy, Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy, Hill City Crash, YMCA and Jefferson Forest High School. Since 2024 it has raised more than $250,000 and named 13 Live Like Cash Gaudio Scholars. Its annual events include the Swing for Cash Golf Classic, an Orange Out football game at Liberty Christian Academy, an Orange Out basketball game at Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy, and Gears for Gaudio. More information is available at https://livelikecash.org.

Micah Gaudio
Live Like Cash Gaudio Foundation
+1 434-204-8787
love@email.livelikecash.org
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