Fan-supported “Halftime Message” initiative raises $40,000 with additional $10,000 contribution from Pistons guard Duncan Robinson’s Robinson Family Foundation

The Detroit Pistons Foundation, Children’s Foundation of Michigan and the Robinson Family Foundation (RFF) today announced a $50,000 grant to SAY Detroit’s LiveWELL Program, supporting youth mental health and wellness initiatives in the city of Detroit.

Through the Detroit Pistons and Children’s Foundation of Michigan partnership, the organizations raised more than $40,000 during the last two seasons through the Pistons’ Halftime Message project, which allows fans to donate funds to display birthday wishes, anniversaries, graduation messages or marriage proposals on the video board during Pistons’ home games.

“This initiative is a powerful example of how our fans and partners can come together to make a meaningful difference,” said Rob Croll, SVP of Corporate Partnerships & Engagement. “Through our partnership with the Children’s Foundation of Michigan and the generosity of Duncan Robinson and the Robinson Family Foundation, we’re proud to support SAY Detroit’s LiveWELL program and help provide critical mental health resources for young people across our community.”

Children’s Foundation of Michigan added:

“We are proud to partner with the Detroit Pistons Foundation and the Robinson Family Foundation to support SAY Detroit’s LiveWELL Program and advance youth mental health in Detroit,” said Andrew Stein, President & CEO at the Children’s Foundation of Michigan. “At the Children’s Foundation of Michigan, we believe every child deserves to thrive and that partnership is the path to progress. Together, we are expanding access to support and strengthening the well-being of children and families in our community.”

Pistons guard Duncan Robinson further supported the initiative with a $10,000 contribution through the Robinson Family Foundation, bringing the total grant to $50,000. Robinson joined the LiveWELL Program this afternoon to take part in mental health sessions and share his story around mental health and his ongoing work to advance mental health awareness and support community-based wellness programs through the RFF.

“I think it’s incredible that mental health is being talked about more through programs like LiveWELL. I’ve witnessed firsthand how important and complex mental health is and I feel honored to connect with SAY and the city of Detroit through these initiatives. Our goal is to continue to share the message that my brother Eli so proudly communicated — there is strength and connection in the struggle. “

The funds will benefit SAY Detroit’s LiveWELL Program at the SAY Detroit Play Center at Lipke Park, an after-school youth development program serving 150 students ages 8–18. The LiveWELL initiative prioritizes mental health and wellness by helping students develop critical life skills, build resilience and adopt healthy behaviors in a supportive environment.

“We’ve been grateful partners with the Detroit Pistons Foundation since shortly after we opened the doors at the SAY Play Center in the fall of 2015,’’ said Mitch Albom, SAY Detroit founder. “We’re overjoyed that Duncan and the Robinson Family Foundation are moved by the work of our youth wellness programming to support it with a generous grant, and we commend the Children’s Foundation of Michigan for its commitment to improve the physical and mental health of children in Michigan – and at SAY Play.’’

Weekly LiveWELL sessions are led by a team of social work and counseling professionals who facilitate project-based group programming focused on mindfulness, emotional awareness and restorative practices. The program also incorporates daily interventions designed to help students navigate challenges while fostering a culture centered on well-being.

Follow the story:

CBS Detroit:

• Pistons’ Duncan Robinson donates to SAY Detroit Play Center LiveWELL Program
• Pistons guard Duncan Robinson talks giving back to kids in Detroit community

MLive: Pistons, ex-Michigan guard announce $50,000 grant to youth mental health initiative

WDIV

• Pistons’ Duncan Robinson shares personal story while supporting Detroit youth mental health
• Pistons SG Duncan Robinson talks teaming up with SAY Detroit to expand youth wellness program

WJR: Pistons’ Star Duncan Robinson Teams Up with WJR’s Mitch Albom for $50,000 SAY Detroit Donation

The SAY Detroit Play Center at St. Cecilia

SAY Detroit is launching a transformative investment in Detroit’s future: the acquisition and redevelopment of the historic St. Cecilia campus into a state-of-the-art youth development, academic enrichment, leadership, and recreation center serving the city’s west side. This bold project, funded by a multimillion-dollar campaign, will restore one of Detroit’s most iconic cultural spaces and convert it into a modern, high impact resource for thousands of young people and families.

The announcement was made during today’s SAY Detroit Radiothon, where SAY Detroit invited Mayor Michael Duggan, former Mayor Dave Bing, former Chief of the Detroit Police Department and Deputy Mayor Isaiah McKinnon, and Judith (Pickop) Cureton and Sari Cureton, widow and daughter (respectively) of Earl Cureton to join in the festivities. Mayor-Elect Mary Sheffield called in from her honeymoon.

SAY Detroit is committed to honoring this historic campus while bringing it back to life as a vibrant community hub focused on academic growth, workforce readiness, healthy youth development, and long-term neighborhood stability.

For a decade, the SAY Detroit Play Center at Lipke Park has shown what’s possible for our city’s young people. Our proven model tackles the barriers families face every day—like limited academic support, lack of safe recreation, and too few opportunities for college and career exploration. Through year-round programming, engaged mentors, and community partnerships, SAY Play has become a place where students thrive.

• Our senior Class of 2025 earned a 100% graduation rate, with 4 students heading to four-year colleges
• We are creating readers: 100% of youth enrolled in literary cohort improved reading proficiency during the school year
• It’s six-week 2025 Summer Discovery program boasts a 92% retention rate of youth participants
• More than 70% of students who participated in our afterschool program were provided transportation from school and to their homes each day — this service is essential for consistent attendance
• Enrollment and programming serves youth from more than 50 schools

At Lipke Park, every student completes academic support sessions before stepping into arts and athletics—ensuring school success always comes first. Teachers and coaches serve as mentors, guiding students on and off the court.

Now, we’re ready to bring that same success to Detroit’s west side.

St. Cecilia Parish was founded in 1921 and the parish school opened in the mid-1920s; the high school addition (which included the gym) opened around 1930. The building that contains the famous gym —  a near-sacred space where basketball legends including Magic Johnson, George Gervin, Jalen Rose, Derrick Coleman, Isiah Thomas, Earl Cureton, and Chris Webber sharpened their skills —  started life as part of the parish/school complex. It converted in the 1960s into a rec center, driven by urgent community need for a safe gathering space, under the leadership of Fr. Ray Ellis and Sam Washington Sr.

The redeveloped St. Cecilia campus will carry on this tradition of nurturing talent and building SAY Detroit’s mission to provide pathways to success for those in need. The ambitious vision for the project — 25 classrooms, over 25,000 square feet of learning space on a combined 8 acres (approximate) of space includes multiple purpose-built spaces to support academic growth, workforce readiness, healthy youth development, and community stability:

1. Academic Success Wing

2. STEM & Digital Innovation Labs

3. Arts, Music, and Cultural Development

4. Athletics & Health

5. Workforce, Leadership, and Life Skills

6. Family Empowerment Hub

7. Community & Multi-Use Spaces

We can’t wait to welcome youth into the SAY Detroit Play Center at St. Cecilia, where they’ll learn, grow, and take their place on the beloved hardwoods of “The Saint.”

If you are interested in lending your early support to this ambitious capital project, please contact Executive Director Richard Kelley at rick@saydetroit.org.

The SAY Play Center had not been open for even a year when the Michigan Masons stepped up in the fall of 2016 and entered in a 10-year partnership ($5 million over 10 years) with SAY Detroit to support the program and its services. SAY Detroit’s partnership with the Michigan Masons is a rarity in the nonprofit world where many funders are reluctant to enter into multi-year funding agreements. The children hold an annual event each fall to celebrate the Masons, which presented its 10th $500,000 check on Wednesday, November 19.

The Michigan Masons were also presented with a Certificate of Recognition from the City of Detroit at the ceremony.

If you would like to help working families who’ve hit hard times, a gift today will be matched up to $25,000, thanks to a generous donor.

and help us meet this match challenge!

But the Jacksons aren’t just part of the SAY Detroit family as WHWF recipients — they are what SAY Detroit Play Center’s Athletic Director Dan Boylan calls “legends.” That’s because the eldest boys, Johnethian, 18, and Jeremiyah, 16, joined SAY Play when it first opened in 2015. Boylan recalls witnessing the brothers’ close bond firsthand, as Johnethian stepped in to defend his brother against some roughhousing on the football field. Before Boylan could explain SAY Play’s own rules against that kind of behavior, Johnethian was there to stop it. 

That reserved strength is typical of the eldest Jackson boy, who is an all-around athlete. Several members of the SAY Play staff were in attendance to watch him graduate this past spring from Osborn High School, where he played on the school’s championship-winning baseball team.  

Where Johnethian grew more quietly into his own, Cass Tech junior Jeremiyah arrived a bit more stridently from the first. Equally comfortable on a basketball court and on a stage, he banked a game-winning three-pointer at a summer AAU game and performs music under the duo “J2x.” He’s also frequently lent his voice to share his experience with SAY Detroit, including at the grand opening celebration of the Kelly and Matthew Stafford & Friends Education Center.

It’s a full experience for every kid that gets to go here… I didn’t have anything when I got to this neighborhood, it was just me and my mom and my brothers. I signed up for the Center. They gave me everything. That’s when my life started.

— JEREMIYAH JACKSON

Both Johnethian and Jeremiyah proved themselves natural leaders — in formal ways as summer camp counselors at SAY Play hired through the mayor’s Grow Detroit’s Young Talent (GYDT) — and informally by modeling behavior for younger members, including their brother Jackeob, 11, who is new to SAY Play.

Like his oldest brother, Jackeob is quiet and finding his way, but respectful and quick to offer staff help when asked. He’s exploring different activities, and currently enjoying robotics.

There’s no adult who doesn’t smile when they’re asked about one of the Jackson boys, and that’s because of the kind of investment and mentorship our world-class staff at SAY Play makes in every child who enrolls.

SAY Play empowers youth by providing high quality pathways to success in a safe, nurturing and enriching environment.

and double your value as we change the game for Detroit youth! 

“Sanctuary. Home. Comfort. Security. Peace.”

If you are blessed, you will feel that warmth in the embrace of friends and family as you gather to give thanks this week.

But those words are also how Michelle and Clyde Moore once described their living situation only after becoming WHWF recipients. After losing their apartment due to health setbacks and job loss, the couple and their three children alternated between sleeping in their car and a motel room. All they needed, they said, was “one chance” to help get back on their feet. [Watch their story from 2020 here.]

WHWF provides that opportunity by matching empty houses with working families in need of homes. We work with partners to refurbish and furnish houses, and more partners to rebuild neighborhood parks and green spaces. You can help offset repair costs with a donation right now.

This year, two families from the SAY Detroit Play Center received homes as WHWF increases its strategic investment in the Osborn neighborhood that surrounds the premier learning center. As SAY Play’s Executive Director Eric Reed explains, it’s about “making sure they have a stable and consistent environment away from the center.”

SAY Detroit helps communities thrive by supporting families through housing, health care and education.

You’ll meet both 2024 families *live* during the Radiothon on December 12, but here’s an early introduction for supporters like you.

The Jacksons, pictured above, were living in just the first floor of the home after the second floor was ravaged by fire. At five years old, Johnettia’s (48) youngest son Jahshuea is too young to join SAY Play, but older boys Johnethian (18), Jeremiyah (16), and Jackeob (11) are current or graduated members — and “legends” you’ll hear more about next week.

Single mom and medical assistant Kai Green (32), and her three children found stability (pictured above). They’d been living with Kai’s mother since January after their previous rental fell into disrepair and foreclosure. The new home in Osborn meant her children would not have to change schools, and they would be able to continue receiving academic assistance, enrichment programming and other services like daily meals and wellness support at SAY Play.

“I feel encouraged. I feel empowered. I feel loved. I feel like God has my back,” she exclaimed on moving day in May.

A fire, a workplace injury, a rental scam, job loss, a car accident — these are all real issues WHWF program recipients have recently faced. In the balance of bad luck, a health problem, a poor decision, or trust broken, lives are changed.

They can be changed again, for the better.

Help build sanctuary, home, comfort, security, and peace for more families in need in Detroit now with an early gift to the 2024 Radiothon.

»  Get ready for the 2024 Radiothon

• Look out for a big announcement next week about a way to support the radiothon in a big way!
• Preview some auction and incentive items at mitchalbomradiothon.com
• Add the event to your calendar:

»  Help SAY Play win $10,000!

All it takes is a click! You can help students from the SAY Detroit Play Center win $10,000 by casting your vote for their decorated tree in a contest hosted by Gardner White as part of their Tinsel Town celebration. Click the button below to read Mitch Albom’s appeal and learn how you can vote for SAY Play’s “Merry Glitchmas” tree!

Hungry Howie’s®, the originator of Flavored Crust® Pizza, has announced a new breast cancer awareness initiative tied to the brand’s annual Love, Hope & Pizza campaign. This year, the national pizza franchise has partnered with SAY Detroit and Van Elslander Cancer Center in honor of National Mammography Day. On Friday, October 18, Van Elslander Cancer Center’s Mobile Mammogram Unit will be onsite at the SAY Detroit Play Center from noon to 4 p.m. to provide pre-screenings and full mammograms to locals. Attendees are invited to the facility’s Comfort Zone Wellness Room to enjoy complimentary express facials and massages provided by Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa while waiting.

Van Elslander Cancer Center will provide its Mobile Mammography Unit at the Kelly and Matthew Stafford and Friends Educational Center Annex at the Lipke SAY Detroit Play Center (19320 Van Dyke Ave.) to assist with on-site paperwork, pre-screenings, and technician-led mammograms to screen as many patients as possible during the four-hour period. Financial assistance related to insurance is available if needed. Screenings will be scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis. All who attend will be registered to be screened. Patients not serviced within the event timeframe be will be assisted by the Van Elslander Cancer Center to make an appointment at another facility at a future date, with transportation assistance if needed. Attendees will also receive gift boxes with items from Hungry Howie’s, SAY Detroit, Van Elslander Cancer Center, Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa, and the National Breast Cancer Foundation, while supplies last.

The SAY Detroit Family Health Clinic’s Outreach Coordinator, Alexis Harvey, will be on site throughout the event to meet with community members and share more information about the clinic’s services.

If you plan to join us, please let us know using the form below!

Held last December at the Somerset Collection in Troy, the twelfth edition of the Radiothon raised more than $2 million, bringing the recurring event’s total fundraising impact to more than $14.5 million since its inception in 2012.

Hosted by SAY Detroit founder Mitch Albom and featuring SAY Detroit’s program leaders, the presentation and networking opportunity welcomed representatives from twenty-seven charities, including first-time recipients The DRE Project and Wings of Love Missionary Baptist Church.

“The generosity and kindness of Michiganders is unmatched. Our annual distribution ceremony embraces that spirit to help other like-minded nonprofits in our area that perform life-changing, and sometimes lifesaving, work,” Albom said. “Collaborating with these worthy partners to offer a hand up to those in need is essential. SAY Detroit is proud to lead the charge, beginning with one of the happiest, and most rewarding, days of the year.”

Broadcast live for 15 hours on WJR (760 AM) and https://mitchalbomradiothon.com, along with broadcast partner WDIV (https://clickondetroit.com), this year’s SAY Detroit Radiothon will be held on December 12, once again at the Somerset Collection in Troy.

Recipients today include:

Avalon Village: $5,000.00
Bing Youth Institute: $10,000.00
Boys Hope Girls Hope: $10,000.00
Building Better Men: $5,000.00
Cass Community Social Services: $25,000.00
COTS/Bright Beginnings: $12,500.00
D2N: $7,500.00
Detroit Hives: $5,000.00
Detroit Recovery Project: $5,000.00
Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries Behavioral Health Clinic: $25,000.00
The Dre Project: $10,000.00
Full Count Foundation: $10,000.00
Humble Design: $15,000.00
Jive Turkeys Detroit: $5,000.00
LA SED Inc.: $15,000.00
Michigan Veterans Foundation: $15,000.00
Mother Batie’s Kitchen/United Sisters of Charity: $10,000.00
Neigborhood Legal Services Michigan: $15,000.00
Notes for Notes: $10,000.00
Parker Village: $7,500.00
Peace Players Detroit: $10,000.00
SASHA Center: $15,000.00
TeMaTe Institute for Black Dance and Culture: $3,000.00
Urban Innovators: $5,000.00
Westside Cultural & Athletic Club: $12,000.00
College for Creative Studies/Detroit Dream Scholars: $50,000.00
Wings of Love Baptist

A new education center bearing the name of former Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford and his wife, Kelly, was dedicated on Monday, April 1 on the campus of the SAY Detroit Play Center.

Called the “Kelly and Matthew Stafford & Friends Education Center,’’ the facility expands SAY Play’s footprint by nearly 15,000 square feet, allowing the after-school center to add additional academic and enrichment programming to improve educational outcomes for hundreds of Detroit youth (ages 8-18).

“This whole day, this whole event, this whole place is about growth,’’ said SAY Detroit founder Mitch Albom, who created SAY Play in 2015. “Growth of an organization … Growth of a really talented number one draft pick … Growth of a hole in the ground that … has lifted from the dirt into this beautiful building that you’re here now sitting in. And most importantly, the growth of every child that comes through the door here… And if you believe in the future, then you have to believe in growth. And that’s what we’re here to do.’’

Along with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, City Councilperson Scott Benson, State Representative Donavan McKinney, the Staffords – who provided the initial $1 million gift toward the expansion – were on hand for the ceremonial ribbon cutting. Matthew spoke of realizing that after selling their house when they moved to Los Angeles, SAY Play is now the “home” the couple still have here in Detroit.

“As impressive as the house is, what makes it a home is the people in it.” he told the nearly 100 guests who were gathered. “What we can do for the kids around here is an amazing thing and something that I’m really proud to be a part of.”

The facility features six multi-purpose classrooms, a “black box’’ theatre, workplace development space, learning labs and more. It “not only expands the operating space for our center, it expands opportunities and experiences for this community and beyond,” said Eric Reed, SAY Play’s executive director.

The ceremony also carried an impromptu recurring theme: “it takes a village.” A tenth grader as Cass Technical High School who has attended SAY Play since the age of 7, Jeremiyah Jackson spoke of being “raised” by the staff, whom he considers family. “It’s a full experience for every kid that gets to go here. And I want you to know that, like you all are providing a lot for each and every kid that comes here… I signed up for the center. They gave me everything. And that’s where my life started.” High school senior Allison Woodard spoke of the opportunities SAY Play has given her, including her first job as a peer mentor and “unforgettable experiences like last May, [when] me and five other students went on a trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. And when I say that was my first plane trip and my first time out of the country, it was crazy!”

Kelly Stafford, too, celebrated “being raised by the community of Michigan. We were kids when we came here. You guys groomed us to be the people we are today and we are so honestly proud to give back to the community that gave us so much and to watch these kids turn into adults.”

Representatives from other legacy gifts on hand for the ceremony included the A.A. Van Elslander Foundation, Clarence and Jack Himmel Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Trinity Health, The Forbes Company, Artichoke Garlic Foundation, and the Tom Gores Family Foundation.

Teasing that the playoff loss could help smooth the way to a warm welcome, Kelly looked forward to returning again and again to see “what this place does and turns into in the future.”

Welcome with open arms, indeed.

More than 94% of our 150 active students shared that the SAY Detroit tutoring program has helped them academically. You make that academic support and SUCCESS possible.

Program assistants like Austin Crutchfield work in small groups and one-on-one with students in the Digital Education Enrichment Program (DEEP) before  students move on to other activities like dance, basketball, and robotics.

SAY Play is a great place and it is making a difference in the community – it is part of the community. It gives youth the opportunity to be safe, relieve stress, learn, and play. The students are our future. I love being part of SAY Play, it lets me give back to the community by doing what I love.

— AUSTIN CRUTCHFIELD

The program’s monthly project on Friday, December 15 involved helping set up and serving at the SAY Detroit Play Center’s fourth annual Winter Showcase, a student-driven arts event featuring a photography gallery followed by a film screening — with Brown Bag popcorn, of course.

“I learned about volunteering after I went to EAT Detroit over the summer,’’ Tomovski said. “I’ve known about Mitch Albom (who founded ATTH) and I wanted to do something that involved helping others and I thought this was a good fit.’’

ATTH truly appreciated Tomovski and the other volunteers who helped run Friday’s special event for the students.

After taking our traditional month of January off, ATTH will resume Feb. 3 at Motown Soup. Registration will open in the next couple of weeks.

Happy Holidays!