Giving is living.
Morrie Schwartz told me something that still rings true to me today. He said “If you don’t like the culture, don’t buy it. Create your own.” I think today, with the internet, mass media, and globalization shrinking the world down to a cookie cutter existence, that statement is truer than ever. We all need to find out what moves us, inspires us and makes us feel good about who we are and how we are with other people. I don’t think a culture inspired by market share and group mentality is going to do that. We all need to find our own lives and our own way to be good to one another.
That’s why S.A.Y. Detroit, a group of nonprofits I started in 2006, will participate in #GivingTuesday. To use the power of social media to manifest the generosity I’ve been so blessed to know from my readers and followers. When I asked for help to repair the hole in the roof of I Am My Brothers’ Keeper, a run-down church that gives shelter to the homeless, thousands across the globe contributed to our ShingleBells campaign to raise funds, and their names are inscribed on a plaque that still hangs today. When I asked for help to rebuild an orphanage in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, Have Faith Haiti mission became a special place of mission, caring, and education.
When I ask for help to improve the lives of Detroit’s neediest, I am showed again and again what extraordinary grace can be found when we invest in those around us. S.A.Y. (Super All Year) Detroit is a fully formed 501© (3) operated in partnership with the Detroit Rescue Mission and includes A Time to Help (a monthly volunteer group), A Hole in the Roof Foundation, The Dream Fund (a scholarship initiative at the College for Creative Studies), and Working Homes/Working Families. Among its many initiatives, it distributes money to shelters in Detroit for projects specifically designed to help the plight of those in need. Its projects to date include the first ever free medical clinic devoted entirely to homeless children and their mothers, the building of a state-of-the-art kitchen at the Michigan Veterans Foundation shelter, and a day-care center at COTS for children of homeless women.
I’ll be supporting #GivingTuesday by sharing stories from S.A.Y. Detroit in anticipation of our 15 hour radiothon on December 5. I’ll announce the amount raised through our #givingtuesday then.
I’m proud to call Detroit home. I’m proud of those who give to our city’s neediest. I’m proud of the work Detroiters do every day to bring our city back.
S.A.Y. Detroit, and say something good. I hope you will, too.
S.A.Y. Detroit
A Group of Non Profit Charies to Help Improve the Lives of Detroit’s Neediest
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Call 1 (313) 993-4700, ext 4718 or 4710
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