Super Bowl and the Homeless

Where's all this money coming from? Help for the homeless? So, here's a really long, and pretty well done story on espn.com about the homeless. ESPN actually wrote a decent human interest story only distantly connected to sport. If you are homeless in Detroit in the winter, you are in for serious cold weather. A Super Bowl route for Detroit's down and out By Wayne Drehs ESPN.com DETROIT -- Just a mile up the road from this city's primary entertainment district -- where Ford Field, Comerica Park, and the Fox Theatre all converge; and where 12 hours earlier, super stretch limos lined the streets waiting for their celebrity passengers -- 36-year-old Gilbert Coles walks outside of his homeless shelter, in a panic. "Gotta get outside, gotta get outside," the jumpy, bald-headed Coles says. "I need me a smoke. Need a smoke now." Coles is having a nicotine attack. He walks outside, pulls a cigarette from his pocket and, within seconds, two strangers offer him a pair of quarters for any extras. He has none. Ross Dettman/for ESPN.com A simple bowl of chili goes a long way at this Super Bowl party. "A lot of these people, they're pretty desperate," Coles says. "They'll do anything for a cigarette, a piece of candy, anything. I know just how they feel." ... On this day, the clean-shaven Coles is already giving back, by serving chili to a couple hundred of his peers as part of a three-day Super Bowl party for the homeless put on by DRMM. The idea, says Chad Audi, the Chief Operating Officer of DRMM, is to lure people into the activity center with food, clothing, activities and a pair of 45-inch big screen televisions so that, once they're there, Audi and his staff can counsel them, help them and encourage them to become residents in one of the centers. That way, they can begin the process of putting their lives back on track, like Coles is trying to do. "We want a permanent, long-term solution to their problems," Audi says. "This isn't some quick fix. If they have a problem, we're using the Super Bowl as a platform to get them in here and help them address it." Ross Dettman/for ESPN.com Super Bowl party favors: a hot meal and plenty of hospitality. Wayne Drehs is a staff writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at wayne.drehs@espn3.com.