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In 1955, Rosa Parks very publicly modified the lives of numerous others. In 1994, one individual secretly helped to vary hers.
When Parks was assaulted and robbed in her residence on the age of 81, the founding father of Little Caesars (and the proprietor of each the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Crimson Wings) stepped up.
Upon listening to of the incident, Mike Ilitch reportedly supplied to pay for safer housing for Parks so long as needed.
It was a secret he stored for years.
Who Was Rosa Parks?
Rosa Parks made historical past on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1955 when she refused an order to surrender her seat to a white passenger and transfer to the again of the bus.
She was arrested, convicted, and fined.
Her unbelievable act of defiance turned the catalyst for the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Led by none apart from Martin Luther King Jr., it ignited the civil rights motion in America.
Often known as ‘the Mom of the Fashionable Civil Rights Motion,’ her bravery garnered her worldwide recognition. She gained quite a few awards together with the distinguished Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor.
Parks moved to Detroit in 1957 the place she continued to combat for civil rights.
Rosa Parks Receives Assist From an Surprising Supply
In 1994, on the age of 81, Parks was assaulted and robbed in her residence. The assailant, Joseph Skipper, walked away with $53.
When phrase of the assault acquired out, Decide Damon Keith instantly known as within the huge weapons — actual property developer A. Alfred Taubman and the Pizza Pizza! man himself.
Taubman supplied up an residence in his Riverfront Residences advanced in downtown Detroit. Illitch supplied up a promise — to pay for Parks’ housing bills indefinitely.
The Rosa Parks Belief Fund was created, containing greater than $100,000.
Whereas Illitch’s contributions to the enterprise world had been well known, his act of kindness was shrouded in secrecy. Hidden from public data, and identified solely to a choose few people, his generosity in the direction of Rosa Parks remained a secret for a few years.
Silent Assist: An Act of Kindness Unveiled
It wasn’t till an article was printed within the Sports activities Enterprise Every day in 2014 that the key got here out.
And it didn’t garner widespread consideration till it resurfaced after Illitch’s dying in 2017.
The article contained {a photograph} of Keith holding a duplicate of a cheque.
“It’s for $2,000, dated November the primary, 1994,” Keith stated. “It’s from Little Caesars Enterprises to Riverfront Residences, and I do know it was simply one in every of many. It’s vital that folks know what Mr. Mike Ilitch did for Ms. Rosa Parks as a result of it’s symbolic of what he has all the time achieved for the folks of our metropolis.”
Finally, after practically a decade, Hartford Memorial Baptist Church took over Parks’ hire funds. And in December 2004, the Riverfront Residences supplied to let her stay rent-free till her dying in October 2005.
Legacy of Giving
It wasn’t Illitch’s solely act of giving. All through his life, the billionaire pizza mogul made vital contributions to numerous charitable causes. In 1985, he established the Little Caesars Love Kitchen, a cellular pizza kitchen that gives meals to these in want. It has served greater than 2 million people in the USA and Canada.
Moreover, he based the Little Caesars Veterans Program, the Detroit Crimson Wings Basis, the Detroit Tigers Basis, and Ilitch Charities. All with the intent to enhance the lives of kids, veterans, and households within the Detroit space by numerous packages.
Mike Illitch and Rosa Parks could have come from two fully completely different worlds and lived very completely different lives, however there may be one frequent thread that ties them collectively — their unwavering dedication to creating constructive change.
It’s a legacy that continues to encourage folks right this moment, proving that one individual actually does have the ability to make a distinction. Whether or not it’s in a single individual’s life or many.
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