Erin Martin, Little Caesars Chief of Staff; Eric Reed, SAY Play Executive Director, and SAY Detroit founder Mitch Albom were on hand to welcome serve up pizza to the kids and guests, including community leaders, school administrators, parents and neighbors of SAY Play.

Watch the recap reel:

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Since 1985, the Love Kitchen has fed nearly 3.8 million people in 48 states and four Canadian provinces. Over 50,000 Little Caesars franchisees and employees have donated their time, food and labor for Love Kitchen servings to support the program in their local communities.

The high school co-hort was also enrolled in a special entrepreneurship course and marketing competition programmed by the Detroit Pistons and funded by the Tom Gores Family Foundation during the 2021 annual SAY Detroit Radiothon.

This year at the SAY Detroit Summer Camp, each middle school cohort used their skills in writing, editing, photography, and design to create a digital publication recapping the wonderful summer we had together. Students were split between three departments: writers, photographers, and designers. Working together, they covered field trips, activities, and conducted interviews with SAY Play students and staff. While looking through these publications, we hope you’ll be as inspired as we are by the intelligent, creative, and enthusiastic youth of SAY Detroit.

Kelly and Matthew Stafford returned to Detroit and were joined by SAY Detroit founder Mitch Albom, Mayor Mike Duggan,, Councilman Scott Benson, and other community members in celebrating the groundbreaking of the annex to come, called the Kelly and Matthew Stafford & Friends Education Center. The 20,000-square-foot facility, which will open in 2023, will include classrooms, learning labs and an auditorium. But it isn’t just an expansion of our campus; it will allow SAY Detroit to expand its services and house a growing and diverse range of programming, including vocational and technical training for adults.

Current students Jeremiyah J. and Tia C. spoke about their experiences at SDPC, sharing how much they are greeted after school with warm meals, homework help, and the opportunity to create lasting friendships. While Jeremiyah has been attending since SDPC opened in 2015, Tia is a new member, but their growth has been nurtured just the same.

Students in the Drone Apprenticeship Program also coordinated a drone “flyover” to celebrate Stafford’s Super Bowl championship!

Watch highlights from the event here ⬇️

Just as the shovels were packed away from the groundbreaking, our program partners pulled in to set up for our open house event for SAY Play families. The student-lead event offered current SAY Play members and their parents and guardians the opportunity get a personal, interactive view into the 20+ activities available to and enjoyed by our students. Games, prizes, music, dancing, Detroit Water Ice, and facility tours were also provided, as was the opportunity to register early for summer camp.

This student-lead event consisted of games, prizes, music, dancing, @detroitwaterice, and gave all of our students a better understanding of the 20+ extracurricular activities and sports we have to offer right here on our campus!

Also on hand to answer questions and provide live demonstrations were instructors and representatives from our partner organizations, including Hidden Genius, Love of Literacy Foundation, Bridge Builders (who are offering a new summer camp weekend in August just for single parents and their families), Notes for Notes, Temate Institute for Black Dance and Culture, Building Better Men, Boys Hope Girls Hope of Detroit, ExamExperts,

Parents & guardians also had the opportunity to sign up for parent-specific programs as well!

Thank you to all of the parents and students who explored all of the tables and signed up for summer camp!

In the “core values” interviews, the team did well in their discussions of discovery, innovation, impact and fun, and will continue practicing their inclusion and teamwork. The judges were impressed with the students’ understanding of diversity, given they are a team that has come together from different schools through a rec center program, and often compete against school-funded teams and programs.

You can watch the full tournament here on Bishop Foley Freeze’s YouTube page

Watch the clip, or copy the recipe below:

Peppermint Lavender All-Purpose Cleaner Solution

Ingredients

• 1 cup of distilled vinegar
• 1 cup of distilled water
• 1/3 cup lemon essential oil
• Add peppermint and lavender herbs
• Mix well Step
• Pour into a 500ml or .5 liter glass bottle (dark color is best) with spray nozzle top

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Approximately 75 youths aged 11-16 participated in a six-week summer program at the SAY Detroit Play Center that consisted of weekly workshops led by SAY Detroit staff and local leaders from the Detroit philanthropic community. Curriculum covered a broad range of topics, including how to identify and prioritize relevant causes; how set goals, assess and evaluate charitable organizations; and ultimately where to allocate funds.

“It is so empowering for young people to learn to use their voice and see how it feels to make an impact in someone else’s life,” said Gores. “There is so much to do in our community and these kids at SAY Detroit are so smart. I’m proud of the way they came together to collaborate, get into the details and make informed decisions.”

Gores conceived the idea last December in connection with a $350,000 pledge he made to SAY Detroit as part of the non-profit’s annual radiothon. A unique element of the donation was that $100,000 be set aside for the students to allocate to other local charitable organizations however they saw fit. The remaining $250,000 of Gores’ donation went toward the SAY Detroit organization itself. 

“We can provide a lot of things for our kids to do, activities, distractions, education, food, but we can’t provide $100,000 for them to give away to other charities,” said Mitch Albom, founder of SAY Detroit. “I’ve been working in charity for well over 20 years and I’ve never been in a situation where kids can control the philanthropic efforts of a philanthropic effort. So, this is definitely different and one of a kind.”

During a celebration on Thursday at the center the children who participated in the program announced they will allocate $100,000 of funding from the Tom Gores Family Foundation to the four local non-profits.

Each of the four grantees have displayed a commitment to their communities across the Detroit-area:

• Green Living Science is a Detroit-based organization that is dedicated to transforming the city by teaching the benefits of recycling and environmental awareness.
• Bridge Builders is a Point Huron-based organization that works with single parents and their families to provide necessary resources, mentorship, and support.
• Six Feet Over is a Detroit-based non-profit whose mission is to provide financial and emotional support for survivors of suicide loss and individuals with lived experience of suicide, while engaging in community prevention through mental health education and advocacy to support healthier futures.
• Detroit Recovery Project is a Detroit-based private non-profit dedicated to supporting recovery which strengthens, rebuilds, and empowers individuals, families and communities who are experiencing co-occurring mental illness, and substance use disorders.

“It’s a very beneficial exercise to allow kids who are mostly in need to suddenly be in the position to help other people in need,” added Albom. “And it’s going to make a huge difference, not just this year, but in the mentality and the memory banks of these kids as they go forward.”

(click to read our students’ reflections on the program)

Gores and the Pistons organization have partnered with SAY Detroit for several years, starting in 2016 with a $600,000 commitment to renovate the gymnasium and basketball court at the SAY Detroit Play Center. In the years since, Gores has also been a frequent contributor to the SAY Detroit radiothon.

MLB and The Scotts Company LLC chose SAY Detroit among its four winners after receiving more than 620 proposals across nearly every state. The blue-ribbon selection panel included Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr., three-time MLB All-Star Ryan Howard and Olympic gold medalist and MLB Youth Softball Ambassador Jennie Finch.

“We are beyond thrilled to partner with Scotts and Major League Baseball to bring Manz Playfield back to life,’’ SAY Detroit Executive Director Richard Kelley said. “Besides the historical significance of the field, we are excited to provide opportunity for youth in Detroit to expose them to America’s pastime where the obstacles to finding safe playing surfaces are insurmountable.’’

More than $200,000 in repairs and upgrades will be made by the end of the year to benefit the four organizations, which also include The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Coastal Bend (Corpus Christi, Texas); Boys & Girls Club of Greater Green Bay (WI.) and Olivet Boys & Girls Club of Reading and Berks County (PA.).

SAY Detroit’s baseball program at the SAY Play Center at Lipke Park, which has been directed by Kirthmon Dozier Jr. of the Full Count Foundation since 2015, has been working with the city and others to find avenues in which to help bring Manz back to life after the field had been weakened by time, financial hardship and neglect. Earlier this spring, SAY Detroit applied to the city of Detroit’s Adopt-A-Park program to help ignite a renewed passion for baseball and softball for inner-city youth and their families. Manz is located on Connor Street near Mack Ave.

READ THE OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT HERE.

For the past 35 years, the Little Caesars Love Kitchen has been providing food and relief support across the country to millions, rolling into cities suffering from natural disasters, feeding first responders, and helping low-income communities like the one SAY Play is in, in northeast Detroit.

A visit from the LCLK every February often means a family fun day, when parents and guardians can attend with their students and enjoy activities, like Black history month themed spelling bees and father-student basketball tournaments. While COVID-19 safety-related policies meant the day looked a little different this year, the scent of pizza and special guests – included Dave Scrivano, president and CEO of Little Caesars Enterprises and SAY Detroit founder Mitch Albom – brought all the flavor we needed.

The Full Count Foundation and the Detroit SAY Play Organization capped off the first full year of baseball with a banquet at Top Golf for the 12 and under Full Count Warriors baseball team. The kids were rewarded for their undefeated season in the All American Baseball Fall League at Kyte Monroe in St. Clair Shores. Finishing the season undefeated (10-0), they were the first team from Detroit to win the championship which hosts baseball organizations from across Macomb and Oakland County. These same group of kids were consistent participants in the FCF/SAY Play baseball program.