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!

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

Denzel and Danjetta and their five children — Danzel Jr., Katie, Ava, Ivan, and the youngest, Kamarie — will join us live at the radiothon on Thursday. They opened up their home to film this video, debuting for you first because you helped make it possible. The children, ranging in age from 8 to 15, all attend the SAY Detroit Play Center, just down the street from the new home they moved into in August as this year’s Working Homes / Working Families recipients.

Affordable housing and safe neighborhoods power stable families, healthy communities and engaged citizens.

As Danjetta says, it is “blessing after blessing after blessing.” They’d always “dreamed of home ownership, and worked hard to try to make it happen, but never thought it would happen like this.”

But this is also a story about a family that chased their dreams to Arizona a few years ago, hoping to settle there with family and find the home they couldn’t in Detroit. Jobs were lined up, housing was found. It wasn’t to be. Danzel’s job with a steel company caused health problems, which were only compounded after he was hit by a car. The recovery and physical therapy needed caused a strain they couldn’t have planned for.

Then, a new job opportunity for Danzel called them back to Detroit. A rent-and-repair housing offer, with the promised opportunity to buy in the future, was another lucky break. It turned out to be too good to be true.

This is a story about a working family who was misled, who tried to make the best out of a housing situation that became untenable, and a rental market that was just out of budget for a family of seven.

It’s an all-too-familiar account for too many in need of housing stability.

These are the challenges SAY Detroit works to overcome, one family, one home, and one neighborhood at a time. The Working Homes / Working Families initiative is strategically increasing investment in the Osborn neighborhood that surrounds SAY Play, rebuilt from the good bones of a once-abandoned recreation center.

We find abandoned houses — with good bones, too — in need of repair and a family to make it a home. We work with partners to refurbish and furnish houses, and more partners to rebuild parks and green spaces.

But we couldn’t continue to build and strengthen communities in Detroit, to provide pathways to success, without your help. Please join the radiothon, or make an early gift right now.

This home refurbishment was made possible through partnership with and support from GM, Humble Design and Lowe’s; BL Construction, LLC was hired to perform the repair work.

SAY Detroit’s commitment to housing includes: program services that address the housing crisis, blight and safety provide economically-disadvantaged families and other vulnerable populations with refurbished homes; partners with local organizations to beautify parks and build green spaces; and strengthens neighborhoods and communities through volunteerism.

The McReynolds arrived in Detroit from Arizona in 2021 after having made arrangements to rent a home in Detroit that seemed too good to be true. It turned out to be — the home was in a condition where repairs they thought could be made weren’t realistic, and soon after, their landlord lost ownership. Through WHWF, Danzel Sr. and Danjetta now have a newly refurbished home for their five children.

Danzel Jr. (15), Katie (11), Ava (10), and Ivan (9) attend the SAY Detroit Play Center, with Kamari (7) to start as soon as she’s old enough. This summer, Danzel worked at SAY Play as a camp counselor for his first summer job, through the City of Detroit’s Grow Detroit’s Young Talent (GDYT) program.

“Truthfully, I have been in awe and disbelief that this house belongs to us. Every day we are way more comfortable with it being ours, and everybody is in their own space. We play games every night after dinner at the kitchen table – our kitchen table.”

— Danjetta

Emceed by SAY Detroit founder Mitch Albom, the presentation featured representatives from more than two dozen local partner charities, including first-time recipients Boys Hope Girls Hope, Full Count Foundation, Jive Turkeys Detroit, North Star Reach,  Peace Players Detroit, the TeMaTe Institute for Black Dance and Culture, Urban Innovators, Volleyball Elite, and Wayne County Neighborhood Legal Services, which runs a drone technology program at the SAY Detroit Play Center at Lipke Park (SAY Play). SAY Detroit annually shares a percentage of donations from the Radiothon to partner organizations and charities that share the nonprofit’s mission to help Detroit’s neediest citizens by providing pathways to success. 

Leadership from SAY Detroit-run programs — including SAY Play, SAY Detroit Family Health Clinic, Better Together and Mi-Cycle — were present to accept distributed funding and introduce its local partners.

Having shifted to a virtual ceremony in 2020, this is the first time in three years that the annual event was held in person, allowing recipients to meet, network, and make plans to collaborate on programming. It was also the first time the event was moved to StartUp Nation Media Group, in Birmingham, Mich. The event was live streamed to SAY Detroit’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.

Read more about the event in the Detroit Free Press

“This is one of the best days each and every year,” Albom said. “Helping other like-minded nonprofits in our region who help others is very meaningful and we know the money will be put to good use in their respective operations.”

Broadcast live each December for over 15 hours on WJR (760 AM) and mitchalbomradiothon.com, along with broadcast partner WDIV/clickondetroit.com, the Radiothon has raised nearly $12 million since 2012. This year’s Radiothon is December 7, at Somerset Collection in Troy. EAT Detroit, the charity’s second largest fundraiser, will also return this year on June 27.

Sign up here for early access to EAT Detroit

2023 Radiothon Distribution Charity Recipients

(From funds raised at the 2022 SAY Detroit Radiothon)

• The Avalon Village, $5,000; 
• Better Together, $50,000;
• Bing Youth Institute, $5,000; 
• Boys Hope Girls Hope of Detroit, $7,500;
• Building Better Men, $15,000;
• Cass Community Social Services, $25,000; 
• Detroit Dream Scholars fund at the College for Creative Studies, $45,000; 
• COTS Detroit’s Bright Beginnings, $12,500;
• D2N, $7,500; 
• Detroit Culture Youth Company, $5,000;
• Detroit Hives, $7,000;
• Detroit Recovery Project, $5,000;
• Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries Genesis House II, $25,000;
• *Faith Tabernacle Choir/A Hole in the Roof Foundation, $5,000; 
• *Full Count Foundation, $10,000;
• Humble Design, $15,000;
• Hugs from Heaven, $15,000;
• *Jive Turkeys Detroit, $5,000;
• LA SED, Inc., $15,000; 
• Michigan Veterans Foundation, $15,000; 
• Mi-Cycle, $50,000;
• Mother Batie’s Kitchen/United Sisters of Charity, $10,000;
• North Star Reach, $5,000;
• Notes for Notes, $10,000;
• Parker Village, $7,500;
• *Peace Players Detroit, $5,000;
• SASHA Center, $15,000; 
• SAY Detroit Family Health Clinic, $100,000; 
• SAY Detroit Play Center at Lipke Park, $800,000; 
• SAY Detroit Tomorrow Fund, $355,000; 
• *TeMaTe Institute for Black Dance and Culture, $2,500;
• *Urban Innovators, $5,000;
• *Volleyball Elite, $10,000;
• *Wayne County Neighborhood Legal Services, $10,000;
• Westside Cultural & Athletic Club, $12,000; 
• Working Homes/Working Families, $150,000.

*denotes first-time recipient

Emceed by SAY Detroit founder Mitch Albom, the virtual presentation featured representatives from more than two dozen charities, including Mi-Cycle, the nonprofit’s newest initiative. Other first-time recipients include Arts & Scraps; Youth is the Truth; People’s Action; Detroit Outdoors; Hugs from Heaven and Citadel of Praise. SAY Detroit annually shares a percentage of donations from the Radiothon to partner organizations and charities that share the nonprofit’s mission to help Detroit’s neediest citizens.

“This event is one of the best days of the year,” Albom said. “Being able to help other nonprofits in our area each year who share SAY Detroit’s mission is not only heartwarming, but gratifying as well. The funds will enable them to help others in need.”

Broadcast live each December over 15-straight hours on WJR (760 AM) and mitchalbomradiothon.com, along with broadcast partner WDIV/clickondetroit.com, the Radiothon has raised over $10 million since 2012. This year’s Radiothon is Dec. 8 at Somerset Collection in Troy.

Radiothon Distribution Charity Recipients Announced Today:

(From funds raised at the 2021 SAY Detroit Radiothon)

• Better Together, $25,000
• Mi-Cycle, $25,000*
• SAY Detroit Family Health Clinic, $100,000
• SAY Detroit Play Center at Lipke Park, $700,000
• SAY Detroit Tomorrow Fund, $350,000
• Working Homes/Working Families, $150,000
• A Hole in the Roof Foundation/Citadel of Praise, $5,000*
• Arts & Scraps, $5,000*
• Avalon Village, $7,500
• Bing Youth Institute, $5,000
• Building Better Men, $15,000
• Cass Community Social Services, $25,000
• College for Creative Studies/Detroit Dream Scholars, $45,000
• COTS/Bright Beginnings, $15,000
• D2N, $7,500
• Detroit Culture Youth Company, $7,500
• DRMM Genesis House II, $25,000
• Detroit Hives, $7,000
• Detroit Outdoors, $5,000*
• Detroit Recovery Project, $5,000
• Hugs from Heaven, $7,500*
• Humble Design, $13,500
• LA SED, Inc., $15,000
• Michigan Veterans Foundation, $15,000
• Mother Batie’s Kitchen/United Sisters of Charity, $10,000
• Notes for Notes, $10,000
• Parker Village (via Soulardarity), $10,000
• The People’s Action, $5,000*
• SASHA Center, $15,000
• Westside Cultural & Athletic Club, $12,000
• Youth is the Truth, $7,500*

* Denotes 1st-time recipient

Such was the case Saturday (Sept. 11) on Grandville Avenue in Detroit, where a dozen volunteers conquered a formidable landscape project to benefit SAY Detroit’s Working Homes/Working Families program.

The house, which is currently undergoing a major inside-and-out renovation, is being prepared to be given to a WHWF family later this fall. Under the guidance of Michigan Recreational Construction, a long-time partner of the nonprofit, the outdoor project included everything from removing trash and overgrown bushes and weeds to creating garden beds and planting boxwoods.

The three-hour clean-up became a community effort when a neighbor offered to help water the new plantings while another drove by and applauded the volunteers. After all, the property is slowly shedding its eyesore status.

“It’s just good work,” said Bob Cullinan of Rochester Hills, who has been volunteering with ATTH long before he retired in 2016 after a 50-year career at Ford Motor Co. “I’ve been fortunate in my life and the volunteer program allows me to give back.”

Details for next month’s ATTH project will be released in the coming days. In the meantime, you can register as a volunteer through CERVIS here.

APRIL 9, 2021/DETROIT – Funds totaling more than $1.5 million were distributed to Detroit area charities yesterday from donations received last December at Mitch Albom’s ninth annual SAY Detroit Radiothon.

The distribution ceremony was moved from its traditional press conference at the Fisher Building to a virtual event for the second year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. More than two dozen area charity recipients joined the afternoon virtual conference, and its recording is now available for viewing at saydetroit.org. 

An annual event since the Radiothon’s inception, the distribution ceremony included first-time recipient Detroit Culture Youth Company, a free dance program founded and run by Detroit Police Officer India Washington, now embedded at the SAY Detroit Play Center at Lipke Park. Washington and SAY Detroit were introduced at one of the first community barbecues hosted by Better Together, an initiative launched last year by SAY Detroit to bridge divides between at-risk citizens and law enforcement, one meal and one neighborhood at a time. 

“Connecting committed Detroiters and their efforts to revitalize this city – like the Detroit Culture Youth Company, Better Together, and SAY Play – is what this distribution ceremony is all about” said Albom, who founded SAY Detroit in 2006. “We work together to match those in need with the life-saving and life-changing programs offered by SAY Detroit and its partners. The spirit of collaboration continues, even in our virtual times.” 

The distribution announcement featured a closing blessing by Revered Barry Randolph, pastor at the Church of the Messiah and a recipient of funding through A Hole in the Roof Foundation to repair the roof of its historic building. Located on Detroit’s east side, the Episcopal church not only offers housing, food distribution and mentorship programs, it serves as a business “incubation center” for its entrepreneurial members. Funds were also distributed to the programs of SAY Detroit which serves thousands of Detroiters each year, including the SAY Detroit Play Center at Lipke Park, SAY Detroit Family Health Clinic, and the new Better Together program.

Broadcast live each December over 15 straight hours on WJR (760 AM) and mitchalbomradiothon.com, along with broadcast partner WDIV/clickondetroit.com, the Radiothon has raised over $8.5 million since 2012 to help Detroit’s neediest citizens. This year’s Radiothon is December 9th at the Somerset Collection in Troy. To learn more about SAY Detroit, please go to saydetroit.org.

2021 Radiothon Distribution Charity Recipients

(From funds raised at the 2020 SAY Detroit Radiothon)
 

Avalon Village, $7,500; *Better Together, $25,000; Bing Youth Institute, $7,500; Building Better Men, $15,000; Cass Community Social Services, $25,000; *Church of the Messiah/A Hole in the Roof Foundation, $5,000; Detroit Dream Scholars fund at the College for Creative Studies, $40,000; COTS Detroit’s Bright Beginnings, $12,500; D2N: Detroit2Nepal Foundation, $7,500; *Detroit Culture Youth Company, $7,500; Detroit Hives, $6,000; *Detroit Kitchen Terminal, $5,000;*Detroit Recovery Project, $5,000; Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries Women and Children Treatment Program, $25,000; *Diversified Community Services, $5,000; *Living and Learning Enrichment Center’s Exceptional Academy, $15,000; Humble Design, $12,500; LA SED, Inc., $12,500; Michigan Veterans Foundation, $12,500; Mother Batie’s Kitchen/United Sisters of Charity, $8,000; Notes for Notes, $10,000; SASHA Center, $12,500; SAY Detroit Family Health Clinic, $100,000; SAY Detroit Play Center at Lipke Park, $650,000; SAY Detroit Tomorrow Fund, $300,000; Westside Cultural & Athletic Club, $11,000; Working Homes/Working Families, $150,000

* Denotes first-time recipient

Click below to view more about each program!

The distribution ceremony, originally scheduled for March 18 at the Fisher Building but postponed to this morning due to the coronavirus pandemic, premiered on Facebook with nearly two dozen area charity recipients and hundreds of others expected to tune in.

“As the economy tightens, we worry that nonprofits will see their funding evaporate, which makes our annual distribution from the SAY Detroit Radiothon more vital than ever,’’ said Albom, who founded SAY Detroit in 2006. “We are proud this year to support so many worthwhile agencies and individual groups. We know they will continue to make a huge difference in the lives of our city’s neediest citizens, who, especially now, must be protected and kept in our hearts.”

Today’s distribution announcement featured a tribute to Tyrone Chatman, the Michigan Veterans Foundation’s longtime CEO who died in February. More than 20 nonprofits and programs which partner with SAY Detroit received donations, including first-time recipients Detroit Hives and the St. Patrick Senior Center, which was awarded funding to repair a hole in the roof of its building that services the homeless and needy. Funds were also distributed to the programs of SAY Detroit which serves thousands of Detroiters each year, including the SAY Detroit Play Center at Lipke Park and the SAY Detroit Family Health Clinic.

Late last month, SAY Detroit announced it had donated $55,000 in funding from last year’s Radiothon to assist three community-based organizations with deploying resources to those most-affected by the COVID-19 outbreak: the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, the Detroit Area Agency on Aging and the Hospital Mask Task Force!

Broadcast live each December over 15 straight hours on WJR (760 AM) and mitchalbomradiothon.com, along with broadcast partner WDIV/clickondetroit.com, the Radiothon has raised over $7 million since 2012 to help Detroit’s neediest citizens. This year’s Radiothon is Dec. 10 at the Somerset Collection in Troy. To learn more about SAY Detroit, please go to saydetroit.org.

2020 Radiothon Distribution Charity Recipients Announced Today:

(From funds raised at the 2019 Mitch Albom SAY Detroit Radiothon)

• Avalon Village, $5,000
• Bing Youth Institute, $11,500
• Buckets of Rain, $6,000
• Building Better Men, $10,000
• Cass Community Social Services, $27,500
• College for Creative Studies/Detroit Dream Scholars, $35,000
• COTS/Bright Beginnings, $11,000
• D2N/EVO Detroit, $7,500
• *Detroit Hives, $5,000
• Humble Design, $10,000
• LA SED, Inc., $10,000
• Michigan Veterans Foundation, $12,500
• Mother Batie’s Kitchen/United Sisters of Charity, $8,000
• Notes for Notes, $10,000
• *St. Patrick Senior Center/A Hole in the Roof Foundation, $6,825
• SASHA Center, $12,500
• SAY Detroit Family Health Clinic, $100,000
• SAY Detroit Play Center at Lipke Park, $600,000
• SAY Detroit Tomorrow Fund, $250,000
• Westside Cultural & Athletic Club, $10,000
• Working Homes/Working Families, $150,000

* Denotes 1^st-time recipient