Over the years, a lot of promises have been made to Detroiters. Wonderful this, amazing that. But usually it takes months – or years – if it happens at all.
But what about making something happen in a couple days? Is that even possible? Mallory Brown, Crowdrise, some online funders and company partners proved that it can.
Yesterday, we told you the story of the CommuniD BBQ and 86,402 Seconds in Detroit. The BBQ has been in the southern part of the Midtown neighborhood (or Cass Corridor) for 8 years now.
However, with change happening like it does in that part of town as of late, the place where they had this barbecue serving more than 100 local residents wasn’t going to be there anymore.
Metro Detroit native Mallory Brown is no stranger to philanthropy. Her main gig is World Clothesline, an organization that has given clothes to people in 16 countries like Haiti, Mexico and Nepal to name a few. This project was an opportunity to give back locally.
Cue the video, the fundraiser to bring the money together ($25,214 to be exact), and companies like Sachse Construction that donated their time, a local sign painter, a landscaping company named Wasmer Brothers, the Mower Gang, and more. It’s like a Marvel Universe of Do-Good Detroit descended on Temple and Fourth streets today, to erect a new pavilion, cook some burgers, mow the grass and make it go.
“The point is to raise a whole bunch of money very quickly and then to implement it right away so donors know that the funds will be put to use immediately,” said Brown when Daily Detroit caught up with her at the construction site. “It’s the whole immediacy and the instant gratitude that we’re going for, and I feel like in society today things happen so quickly that this just taking philanthropy to the next step.”
Is it the largest project Detroit’s ever seen? Nope. Is it pretty great to see actual progress in a short amount of time? Yep. What they’ve done is now really the gold standard, for speedily doing good charity work.
By being organized, focused, and using the power of the Internet, a vacant lot becomes a park in one day. Pretty nifty.
