APRIL 8 • 2021 | 17
stress triggers and how to pos-
itively deal with them, was put
through a significant stress-test
as districts nationwide were
shuttering in March 2020.
“With regard to COVID-19,
if you're looking for a silver lin-
ing, one of the things that made
the transition a little smoother
was having to flip a switch and
learn how to educate kids in a
different way overnight, espe-
cially kids with so many of the
challenges our kids experience
regularly,
” Hitchcock said.
Once COVID shut in-person
learning down, the CRI team
went to work on truncating
the lessons from five to three
15-minute weekly sessions, and
the martial art instructors held
remote office hours, versus
weekly in-person sessions, to
maintain contact with students.
Blankenship brought her former
colleague, Cindy Young, onto
the team in order to streamline
the lesson plans for remote
learning.
ADDED VALUE
“One of the roles I had in
Birmingham was the director
of character education, and the
Heroes Circle really reminded
me of that,
” Hitchcock said.
When students help others
with the techniques they have
learned, she said, “in many
cases, the students that were
doing the helping actually ended
up helping themselves.
”
Goldberg’s mantra, extrap-
olated, seeks to impart the
notion that each time a student
performs what’s called a “Breath
Brake,
” where they employ
their breathing techniques to
re-center, they are also helping a
child, somewhere, gain the same
empowerment. It’s a self-re-
inforcing cycle of good that
is meant to teach, inform and
empower.
KKC’s Chairman of the Board
Robert Bronstein, whose $1 mil-
lion gift launched the nonprofit’s
new, multi-year fundraising
effort, is bullish on the Heroes
Circle’s new CRI program as a
natural outgrowth of the organi-
zation’s central tenet of helping
children gain control in a world
often not in their control. “It
really feels like everything is fir-
ing on all cylinders, and there's
definitely really good momen-
tum,
” Bronstein said.
At the conclusion of our
Zoom interview, Leah, the
fourth-grader whose bravery
facing her illness was on full dis-
play during our chat, summed
up the culture Goldberg espous-
es when speaking about bring-
ing more light into the world.
“It makes me feel like I have
joy because I'm teaching others,
”
she said, “so they can learn it,
and they can do it, and they
can teach other people, so they
can take control of themselves,
too.
”
Bryan Gottlieb is a freelance writer in
Detroit and a media consultant work-
ing with Kids Kicking Cancer.
KKC from page 16
“THE SIMPLICITY AND SCALABILITY
OF THE PROGRAM WAS WHAT
MADE ME WANT TO DO ANYTHING
I COULD TO SUPPORT IT.”
— HON. BRIDGET MARY MCCORMACK, CHIEF JUSTICE OF
THE MICHIGAN SUPREME COURT AND CO-CHAIR
OF THE CHILDHOOD RESILIENCE INITIATIVE
T
he University of Michigan
Board of Regents has
approved the renaming of
the U-M Depression Center for
Frances and Kenneth Eisenberg
and their family, in recognition
of their transformational $30
million total giving to depres-
sion research and scholarship.
The center will be known as the
Frances and Kenneth Eisenberg
and Family Depression Center.
The Eisenbergs’ philanthropy
toward the center includes earli-
er support for advanced science
in the field of mood disorders
and a professorship now held by
the center’s new director, Srijan
Sen, M.D., Ph.D.
“Thanks to the Eisenbergs’
extraordinary commitment to
moving depression and bipolar
illnesses out of the shadows and
into the sunlight of advanced
scientific research, discovery and
evidence-based care, our univer-
sity will be able to accelerate the
pace of prevention, detection,
treatment and support,
” said
U-M President Mark S. Schlissel,
M.D., Ph.D. “It’s hard for me to
imagine a more important and
timely investment in medical
research than what is being
made by the Eisenberg family.
”
Kenneth Eisenberg said,
“With the pandemic, we are
finally talking about how central
mental health is to our everyday
lives. There is a growing aware-
ness about how pervasive condi-
tions like depression are across
the nation. There’s promise in
that awareness.
“Frances and I wanted to
provide a gift that would expo-
nentially grow the potential to
change millions of people’s lives
for the better, as well as provide
momentum to the incredible
work that the Depression Center
is doing in this area,
” he added.
“It’s a message of hope and
promise of better lives for mil-
lions.
”
The Eisenbergs’ total giving
to U-M is $39 million, including
gifts to the Taubman Medical
Research Institute and other
areas of Michigan Medicine,
to the Eisenberg Institute for
Historical Studies in the College
of Literature, Science & the
Arts (LSA), and contributions
to the School of Education and
TeachingWorks, School of Social
Work, Department of Athletics
and University Musical Society.
“Depression and related
disorders affect the health and
well-being of so many people,
and the outcomes of many other
illnesses,
” said Marschall Runge,
M.D., Ph.D., the executive vice
president for medical affairs,
dean of the Medical School and
CEO of Michigan Medicine,
U-M’s academic medical center.
Runge said, “We are confident
that the Eisenbergs’ leadership
will inspire others who have seen
the toll that depression can take
to lend their support and move
science and clinical care forward
even faster.
”
Depression Center
to be renamed for
Eisenberg family.
$30 Million Gift
to U-M
JN STAFF
Kenneth
and Frances
Eisenberg
U-M