Skip to main content

Pre-game efforts help Cass Activity Center

Date Posted: February 3 2006

Cass Activity Center in Detroit was chosen for the National Football League's annual "Kickoff to Rebuild" program that takes place in the Super Bowl's host city.

The NFL is funneling about $200,000 to help fund repairs to the center on Cass and Seldon, which provides a haven for developmentally disabled adults. The clients learn life skills such as cooking, safety and money management.

The money will pay for many, but certainly not all of the materials needed to upgrade the 7,300-square-foot Cass Activity Center building, which is about a century old and very much in need of renovation. But no labor costs were in the budget - and that's where building trades unions stepped in, big time.

"The vast majority of the work that we've have needed isn't the glamour stuff," said Ed Hingelberg, director of operations for Cass Community Social Services. "It involves tearing out walls and doing wiring and plumbing. I give kudos to the building trades people for all the work they're doing every single day."

Union electricians, plumbers, roofers, tile masons and carpenters stepped in to lend a hand. Some of them, like laid-off IBEW Local 58 journeyman Jackie Malewicz, have nearly worked full days at the center throughout December and January. There were 25-30 volunteers working on the project on any given day.

"I'm here as long as it takes," Malewicz said. "It's important for us to do things in the community. We met some of the clients and they were cheering and clapping. That was really nice." Fellow electrician Stacie Reeves said: "I just wanted to do something to help. This is definitely a good cause."

The building will be getting a new kitchen, renovated bathrooms, more efficient lighting, new flooring and walls and a new roof.

Prior to becoming NFL Commissioner, Paul Tagliabue and his wife, Chandler, got involved with the non-profit agency "Rebuilding Together" when it was founded more than 20 years ago in Washington,D.C. When he became commissioner several years later, they decided that the NFL should be rehabbing houses or non-profit facilities in conjunction with the Super Bowl to help raise awareness of the need that exists across the country and also to give the NFL an opportunity to make a difference in the Super Bowl city, said Patty Johnson, president and CEO of Rebuilding Together.

This effort is being coordinated by Jay Eldridge, president of the Rebuilding Together Oakland County chapter, a United Way agency.

As part of the Super Bowl pre-game activities, Tagliabue, Miss America, some players and other dignitaries are expected to tour the renovated building and hold a press conference on Friday, Feb. 3.

"Having this kind of attention means this work is getting done," Eldridge said. "A lot of it has been necessary, but we haven't had the money. The amount of work being done by the volunteers from the building trades and the UAW is phenomenal. We've made some new friends."

IBEW LOCAL 58 volunteers who helped re-work the wiring at the Cass Activity Center include (l-r): Jackie Malewicz, Leslie Grammatico, Mary Johnson, Chaterine Hefke, and Stacie Reeves. There were numerous other volunteers from the IBEW and the rest of the trades who weren't present that day.
IBEW Local 58's Leslie Grammatico measures a wall for placement of an electrical box in the Cass Activity Center.