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.