Jeff and Ellen Adler, California residents, are giving a quarter of a million dollars to groups around Detroit, no strings attached.
Jeff Adler grew up in Huntington Woods, visiting his dad's downtown record store. According to Rochelle Riley at the Free Press, Adler returned to Michigan three years ago to rediscover his boyhood memories and instead found "devastating decline."
So, Adler wants to do something. $750,000 worth of something.
Plus, he convinced his bosses at Blackline Systems to donate $300,000 worth of accounting software to the city government.
Not that the couple will be around to see the results -- the Adlers still live in California.
The Adlers — who will be in town Oct. 28-30 to present the gifts — chose to donate in the categories of health care, feeding the needy, the arts, the environment and education. They also gave to Adler’s old neighborhood and to a friend’s efforts to save the old Tiger Stadium he knew as a kid.
The funds will be divided among seven organizations:
- Wayne State University College of Nursing: $250,000
- Tiger Stadium Conservancy: $100,000
- Community Chorus: $100,000
- Gleaners Community Food Bank: $100,000
- Detroit Waldorf School: $100,000
- North Rosedale Park Civic Association: $50,000
- Greening of Detroit: $50,000
Adler worked with his childhood neighbors to determine which organizations should receive funds.
“I’m fortunate for a lot of good things to have happened in my life,” Adler, 64, said in a phone interview from Santa Monica, Calif. “I just felt what better thing to do than help someplace where I lived and enjoyed growing up, where I enjoyed raising my family. We’re writing a check. We’re fortunate that we can. But those are some really remarkable people, and this can help them do something they’re passionate about.”
