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It was a big announcement, requiring a big star, so Palace Sports & Entertainment called on the services of music legend Anita Baker to change out the numbers at the noon hour of the Pistons Cares Telethon Benefiting the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Michigan. A round of applause went up from the volunteers working the phones as Ms. Baker posted the number $120,023.
Since 6 a.m., Palace staffers have been manning the phones and taking call-in donations to help the Make-A-Wish Foundation grant 50 wishes for kids with life-threatening medical conditions. If you would like to donate, please call 1-877-DPC-WISH (372-9474) or click on the DONATE NOW button located on this page.
The idea crystallized for Dan Hauser as he sat home watching “American Idol” almost a year ago. By the time that idea – more an inspiration, really – had passed through the pipeline, been massaged to work out the kinks and got relayed to Susan Fenters Lerch in late January, she was watching flames shoot out the windows and lick at the shimmering walls of her Las Vegas hotel by the side of a friend whose cousin was in the running for Miss America.
If little girls have grown up with dreams of wearing Miss America’s tiara for generations, more recent waves of American kids have grown up harboring hopes of crooning for Simon, Paula and Randy on the big stage of “American Idol.”
But dreams of growing up to be a princess or a star get seriously sidetracked when a kid wakes up one morning feeling weak or sore or too sick to go to school – and the next thing they know, a doctor is talking to Mom and Dad about some ominously named disease like “acute lymphocytic leukemia” or “osteosarcoma.”
For those kids – too many, far too many – the dream becomes growing back their hair after another punishing round of chemotherapy or feeling strong enough to get out of bed and blow out the candles on their birthday cake.
Which is where the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Michigan comes in – and the paths of Dan Hauser and Susan Fenters Lerch cross. Here: The Pistons Cares Telethon benefiting the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Michigan.
The short version is this: When the Pistons host the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night, and all of Friday at 11 radio stations throughout metro Detroit, the Pistons family – and that’s everybody from president Joe Dumars to Palace CEO Tom Wilson to coach Flip Saunders and All-Stars Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace, to the people who sell popcorn and sweep the aisles and keep score, everybody – will be attempting to raise $400,000 to benefit Make-a-Wish.
There are 600 medically eligible children in the Michigan foundation’s database and each wish – trips to Disney World or family cruises or something less glitzy but equally special – averages $8,000. It’s the 50th anniversary of the Pistons’ relocation to Detroit from Fort Wayne, Ind. – $400,000 grants 50 wishes, one for each year.
And here’s the long version:
“I’m sitting at home watching ‘American Idol,’ and the stories they told of the incredible need in Africa and from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina were so compelling,” said Hauser, executive vice president of Palace Sports & Entertainment. “They were raising money for those causes and I saw the response they got with their enormous reach.
“And it just hit me: There’s something we can do here because of the strength of our organization. We touch people in so many different ways – the media, the players, the emotions, the way sports can reach and move people. There’s something there that we can do.”
Something, but what? The thought hovered like a hummingbird throughout the summer but never roosted. Flying home in August from Boston, where Hauser saw something about that area’s venerable children’s charity, the Jimmy Fund, it starting taking shape. By the time his plane touched down, a plan was in place.
“Quite candidly, I was inspired by what I saw. We have a lot of good people in this organization – a lot of people who want to do things for others – and I outlined on that plane ride how every department could get involved.”
Wilson and Hauser and a handful of others have been along for the ride since the Pistons first moved into the Silverdome in 1978. And they don’t remember anything galvanizing the organization, from top to bottom, quite like this.
“When I first mentioned it to Tom – and I can still hear him saying this – he told me, ‘This could be the biggest thing we’ve ever done as an organization.’ ” Hauser said. “In all my years here, I’ve never seen an entire organization get behind one cause like this. We’ve done a lot of marvelous things, but I’ve never seen anything quite like this.”
There’s Heidi Gilbert in guest services, whose sister Kelly is a teacher in the Huron Valley district. They motivated the eight seventh-grade classes at Oak Valley Middle School to see which could raise the most money. Everybody in the winning class gets a Pistons jersey, courtesy of Heidi and her department.
And Pat Rector, a stand manager for Centerplate, the company that operates in-arena food services, who donated $500 in memory of her granddaughter, Kate Hirshuk, who died last year from an incurable brain tumor.
And Bob Blunk, who moonlights in guest services at The Palace but for more than 30 years has been the track and cross-country coach at Warren DeLaSalle. On short notice, he threw together a 2-mile walk and run at Metro Beach last Sunday. He roped in the 50 athletes under his direction at DeLaSalle and asked that each of them raise at least $20 in pledges and beat the drum to get others to participate, as well. He wound up contributing $855.
And on it goes. The merchandising department dedicated a portion of its Merchandise Mondays sales via Pistons.com plus game-night sales to Make-a-Wish, which going into Wednesday night’s game with Philadelphia had netted nearly $4,000. A bake sale organized by Palace suite services brought in almost $1,200. A jeans day for Palace employees that for a minimum $10 donation put more than $4,600 into the pot.
“It’s been amazing,” Wilson said. “I thought it was a great idea that got tougher the more you talked about it. It’s a pretty daunting thing to put together. You allow yourself to think of all the reasons it wouldn’t work. But the thing about this place is that you can come up with 100 reasons why not for everything; the minute we hit on the reason why and everybody starts pulling together, it’s a pretty remarkable place.
“We found the right cause, something that touches everybody. If you’re a parent, or a soon-to-be parent, or have younger brothers or sisters, imagine going through that. From our players right on down, this is something that resonated with everybody.”
It usually works the other way around. It’s usually Susan Fenters Lerch, president and CEO of Make-a-Wish Foundation of Michigan, out banging on doors, making speeches and telephone calls, hoping to solicit a few bucks here or a couple of favors there to patch together another wish.
“Our feeling is if you go to the front door and it won’t open,” she said, “you go to the back door.”
So as she stood on the Las Vegas asphalt with her friend Lisa, there to root on Lisa’s cousin, Miss Michigan Kirsten Haglund, to the Miss America title, with her belongings trapped on the 28th floor of the Monte Carlo while fire raged four floors above, Fenters Lerch wondered, “Why am I in Las Vegas, anyway?”
And then the phone call came from her Make-a-Wish events manager, Meg Lelli, who’d heard from Anne Balutowicz of The Palace’s community relations department that the Pistons would like to stage a telethon to benefit their charity.
“It was a ‘Wow!’ ” Fenters Lerch said. “It was a big wow. And it was like a gift from the universe – that’s what we’re calling it around here, our gift from the universe. It’s perfect. With the Pistons’ theme of ‘Goin’ to Work’ – that’s our mantra. Going to work for the kids and the families of Michigan. Our needs have never been greater. This is just such an amazing gift.”
Fenters Lerch appreciates that there are many worthwhile causes and charities facing similar challenges in Michigan’s strapped economy. Her case for Make-a-Wish, to those who think the granting of wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses is a nice gesture but less than critical, is powerfully simple.
“What we offer is so far beyond the trip to Disney World. Life has brought these children the worst thing ever. The anticipation of the trip or whatever the wish might be gives them joy – and it’s the hope and the strength and the joy that makes all the difference in the world.”
To be sure, Fenters Lerch has talked to countless doctors who swear by the therapeutic effects that the trip – the planning, the experience, the reminiscing – or the fulfillment of other wishes has on their patients.
“They take into consideration when is the best time in the course of care to take their trip,” she said. “They love to talk to them about the wish. The man who is our board chairman, Dr. Jim Fahner (head of pediatric hematology and oncology at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids), says for him to be able to deal with his patients and talk about the wish provides a wonderful way to relate to the children under his care. They’re on the frontlines every day and they absolutely see a difference in the way their patients respond to treatment through the wish. We really consider ourselves part of the treatment protocol.”
The wishes are a salve, but not always a cure. Medical advances improve the odds every year, but not all Wish Kids beat their illness.
“These are very ill children,” Fenters Lerch said, “but the survivors are our staunchest supporters. In situations where a child does not survive, those families have a time they can look back on – in memories and photos – where they didn’t have worries. In a time of incredible stress, they had a really joyful experience without pain involved. A lot of times, where the child does have a terminal condition, they’ll hang on through the wish and then pass away. And it’s amazing, because that family got to have this wonderful time together.”
Fans who attend Friday’s San Antonio game will find an envelope attached to each seat, as did fans at Wednesday’s Philadelphia game. They can choose to donate in one of two ways: a set amount or so much per Pistons point – a 100-point game could mean a $100 donation at a dollar a point or a $10 donation at a dime a point. It all adds up.
Everybody who makes a donation – at the game or through one of the 11 participating radio stations throughout the day – gets entered into a raffle with some pretty neat prizes. The game jerseys of all Pistons worn against the Spurs will be among the prizes, as will a trip for two on the Pistons’ team flight for their April 16 game at Cleveland.
Many of the Pistons’ corporate partners have pitched in with the same level of enthusiasm as The Palace’s employees. Friday’s WDIV-TV telecast saw 16 sponsors hand over 30-second spots that will instead feature the stories of Wish Kids and provide information and opportunities for viewers to donate. Seven WDFN-AM radio spots will be similarly given over for the broadcast. A percentage of merchandise sales at the game will go to Make-a-Wish.
The Pistons have sponsors for each radio segment – pregame, all four quarters, halftime and postgame. And, at The Palace, there will be a Telethon sponsor for all four quarters.
For a first-year event, every indication is that the Pistons Cares Telethon will be an overwhelming success. What Hauser learned, once plans were announced and word seeped to The Palace’s roots, is that people were bursting with ideas – too many to fully implement this year, but next year?
“We’ll sit back when it’s done and critique it, but you can see there is incredible upside here,” Hauser said. “It’s already a huge success, but it can be so much more.”
It’s already fulfilled a wish Susan Fenters Lerch couldn’t dare to dream, but there are so many other wishes – too many, far too many – that still need their angel.
