Mitch Albom, SAY Detroit raised $2.1M for Detroiters in need; $325,000 given to nonprofits

During the 2006 Super Bowl hosted in Detroit and while working on a column, Mitch Albom spent a night in a homeless shelter provided by the city to get people off the streets while tourists poured in for the big game.

Throughout his experience, Albom was inspired to create his foundation to help Detroiters who'd be "super all year long," so he quickly got to work and founded SAY Detroit.

Now, 18 years later, the organization has raised more than $14.5 million in total for nonprofits that help to assist Detroiters in need, from basic needs like food, housing, medical care and child care to psychological and self-fulfillment needs like skill training and creative arts programs for Detroit youth.

"What I started hearing from funders in the very beginning of our organization, 'You know why we support you? Because you guys get things done. You don't get bogged down by bureaucracy; you see a problem and you jump at it,'" said executive director of SAY Detroit Rick Kelley.

The annual fundraising Radiothon this past December, in which people call in from all over the world to make donations, raised a record-breaking nearly $2.1 million, approximately $325,000 of which was divvied up between its 27 partner charities — including first-time recipients The DRE Project and Wings of Love Missionary Baptist Church. The rest of the donations are funneled back into SAY Detroit to fund its numerous other programs and initiatives to help Detroit's most vulnerable populations.

"We're also working on homing in on these relationships and building on them. ... We have so many things we do from a health clinic to afterschool (program) to giving away homes to volunteer programs, so if we're involved with an organization on one level, chances are we can be involved with them on another level, so then how do we maximize these relationships?" said Kelley.

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Donation amounts dispensed to the long list of charities ranged between $3,000 to $50,000, depending on the size and reach of each nonprofit.

"This year is our 115th anniversary, and every day we serve over 2,500 people and provide meals — 4,500 meals a day. Your generous donation allows us to continue this work that we're doing, so thank you so much for everything you're doing for us," said Stephen Grady, chief strategy officer of Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries' Behavioral Health Clinic, which received $25,000.

"You would not believe how many seniors in Detroit, Hamtramck and Highland Park live in homes that are not safe. ... My phone rings every day from 6 in the morning to 12 at night, and we only have a certain amount of money, but because of Mitch and this organization we're going to be able to make more homes safe for seniors," said Stephanie Donaldson, the Tiny House ambassador from Cass Community Social Services, which received $25,000.

"There's a lot of compassion and empathy in this room, but what's really in this room is hard work. We've all worked really hard to raise up our communities. These sponsors from SAY Detroit help us to do what we do and continue to do that," said Chris Tull of Humble Design Detroit, which received $15,000.

The next SAY Detroit Radiothon event will be broadcast for 15 hours on WJR, WDIV and mitchalbomradiothon.com on Dec. 5.