DETROIT — Surrounded by pallets of holiday gift boxes that will be distributed to 30,000 youth this December, A Time to Help volunteers contributed to the endeavor by assembling more than 5,600 dental kits on Saturday (July 17) at Detroit Goodfellows.
The project, which had been delayed a month because of street flooding, was a success from beginning to end. The heavy rain of the past week disappeared by morning. Every single volunteer spot was filled (20 plus two!), bolstering production at the Corktown warehouse, where Motown music blared from speakers, putting everyone in a happy holiday mood.
“This is going really well,’’ said ATTH volunteer Marshall Hunt, past president of Detroit Goodfellows. “Everybody is pitching in and excited about what we’re doing. Nonprofits really count on the value that can be done with volunteers; it increases what you can do in the community. Being in Goodfellows, and working with Mitch (Albom), you can see the impact of what can be done.’’
Albom, who founded SAY Detroit in 2006, created ATTH more than 20 years ago to help galvanize volunteerism in the community. Longtime volunteer Jean Yee, who formerly served as ATTH program’s coordinator, said the Goodfellows’ project was a first for ATTH.
ATTH would like to thank the volunteers for their service, and a special thank you to Detroit Goodfellows executive director Sari Schneider and operations manager Emmett Yglesias for leading the volunteers.
The next ATTH project will be held in September. Location TBD.
