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

