Living in Northern Michigan, we can sometimes be shielding from the great poverty and need that exists downstate.
But a local organization is taking our space, resources and generosity and reaching out to those less fortunate in the Detroit area.
In tonight’s Sightseeing in Northern Michigan, Corey Adkins and Michelle Dunaway show you how you can help them in their mission.
“Detroit needs help and we are Michigan. We feel strongly that we want to help other people in Michigan,” says Mike Binsfeld.
That’s happening at a little garage outside of the village of Empire, in Benzie County. It’s an interesting story.
“ is a charity that grows vegetables in some areas down by Detroit that are fresh food wastelands,” says Bob Dekorne.
But how does all this sawing and pounding help the people of Detroit?
“We recycle materials that we have donated from various businesses, we create these raised bed gardens, and last year we served over 100,000 servings down in the greater Detroit area,” says Bob.
And here’s how they do that.
“We actually harvest pallets from local businesses,” explains Bob . “So we cut those up and use the long boards for the side boards of the raised beds, and it’s really just a processes of just cutting and sizing the wood and assembling them into the side. Then they get screwed together and filled with dirt, filled with plants and away we go.
GM even donates corrugated.
Once the crops are ready to be harvested out of the raised beds…
“The vegetables go to shelters and food banks and school programs and are just distributed in the community. So we’re bringing fresh healthy food into areas where it doesn’t exist,” says Bob.
Mike adds, “We have grown food there, but more importantly, we’ve grown hope and some confidence for these people that, you know, they can have a better life.”
All the food Buckets of Rain grows are free to the people who need them, but doing all this isn’t, so they came up with a fun way to raise money, and you can help!
“So we decided four years ago to sing an American classic, a Woody Guthrie song ‘This Land is Your Land’, for 72 hours straight and set a world record, and we did and people noticed.”
Every year they add an hour so they break their own record.
“So the song-a-thon, is the proper title, takes place in August 18-21 in front of Horizon Books, and we will be there 24 hours a day singing ‘This Land is Your Land’," says Bob.
They’re looking for musicians, or anyone who wants to be a part of something special to help them help others.
“We like to say we turn music into food and it takes a few steps in between, but that’s really what we’re doing is turning music into food,” says Bob.
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