46 | DECEMBER 5 • 2019
eats | drinks | sweets
Nosh
A Snack that
Gives Back
Mitch Albom’
s Brown Bag Popcorn
gives 100 percent of profi
ts to
disadvantaged Detroiters.
STEFANI CHUDNOW CONTRIBUTING WRITER
T
o many, popcorn is
as simple as a snack
you get at the movie
theater. To Jewish Detroiter
Mitch Albom, it means so
much more.
Before we
talk popcorn,
it’
s crucial to
learn about
Albom’
s charity,
SAY Detroit.
The author of the best-
selling novel Tuesdays With
Morrie and recent release
Finding Chika, Albom has
spent the past 34 years liv-
ing and working in Detroit.
Though he was born in
New Jersey, you wouldn’
t
know it by the way he talks
about Detroit.
“I love it here,” Albom
said. “The people are fan-
tastic; it’
s a great commu-
nity and they’
ve always
made me feel tremendously
at home. Above all else,
the people care about one
another, and they’
re very
charitable even when we
have terrible economic
downturns.”
In this spirit, Albom gives
back to communities at
home and worldwide. One
such local venture is SAY
Detroit, a charity that helps
homeless Detroiters of all
ages.
SAY Detroit began in
2006 when Albom wrote a
column about how home-
less people were being
treated during and after
the Super Bowl. He real-
ized that, after providing
a three-day “Super Bowl
party” for homeless cit-
izens, the city of Detroit
went back to essentially
ignoring them. With more
than $300,000 raised by
readers of his Detroit Free
Press column, Albom set
out to enact substantial
change.
“When we talk about
tikkun olam, about helping
the world, we don’
t distin-
guish between only Jewish
causes,” Albom said. “We
include Jewish causes, and
we include causes that may
not necessarily be of the
same faith, but they’
re of
the same city or the same
country. We’
re trying to do
that with SAY Detroit.”
SAY Detroit is comprised
of nine different charities,
all with the mission of
helping people in need.
Not only do they provide
homes for homeless fami-
lies, but they also opened
the nation’
s first medical
clinic for homeless children
in Highland Park as well as
a rec center where children
Mitch Albom
Registration:
November
13
-
December
20
mitzvahdaydetroit201
9.
eventbrite.
com
Questions?
Call:
248-642-2649
or
email:
slippitt@jfmd.
org
Wednesday
December
25
Together we will celebrate the
strength of our community.
Participate in a
volunteer service
project of your
choice at one of
many locations
in metro Detroit.