About this project

The Moses W. Field Estate at 2541 Field Avenue on Detroit's Near East Side is one of only a handful of pre-civil war residences in Michigan. And has been on Detroit's Historic Register since 1999.

My friend owns this house, and has done many large projects on it to restore it to it's original splendor. He also owns, and keeps up, a few other homes and properties in the city. He is a huge advocate for city, and will defend it until the day he dies.

Unfortunately, he has fallen on some hard times in the last year or so. In addition to having a career in sales, and dealing with the downturn in the economy that has adversely affected his income, he has had to deal with some huge life changes, that has both taken a chunk of any money saved and caused him to carry the brunt of paying the bills and mortgages for all of these properties.

He has taken manu steps to make sure he could keep up with everything....he cancelled all unnecessary accounts like satellite TV, home phone and internet service, shopped for better insurance, refinanced his car and dialed the thermostat down to 60. He even signed up for DTE's "Shut-off Protection Plan"; not because he was facing shut-off, but because it allowed him the opportunity to budget his utilities with a consistent monthly payment, and the time he was not eligible for their regular Budget Plan.

So he was making it work, and was paying the pre-determined amount of 600 some odd dollars for the DTE plan consistently for six months until this past December when sales really tanked AND his cat needed a leg amputation due to skin cancer! He just couldn't afford the December payment and had to make new arrangements with DTE. At that point, he was informed that he could only default once and once that happened, he would be removed from the plan and forced to pay any amount owed in-full. He agreed and was told to send a $735 down payment by a specified date: January 17th. And on January 13th, he sent the payment and went on with life.

Then last week, he received a shut-off notice from DTE. When he called, they told him the payment was due on January 7th, not the 17th...thanks crappy cell phone service! So now he is in default and the total bill is due NOW or he is facing shut-off as soon as Friday the 19th. They gave him the numbers to the Michigan Department of Human Services, United Way and T.H.A.W., but unfortunately, he is not considered "impoverished" by their standards and therefore doesn't qualify for assistance.

The actual amount owed is approximately $1,500...however, i want to start off small and make sure that the goal is met so he gets some immediate help. Anything in excess of the goal will either go towards paying the remainder of the balance; or, if he comes up with enough to cover the rest, it will be donated to T.H.A.W. If there is still a need for more $$ after this round, I will start a second round with the same goal, and the same stipulations.

So please, think about forgoing that pack of smokes or beer, the take out pizza for dinner, or a night at the bar and make your donation of 5, 10, 20 dollars or more today, and help a friend...a fellow Detroit supporter...a hard worker who is just trying to make ends meet, get back on track!

For more info on the house and who Moses Field is and why he is an important figure in Detroit History, visit: http://www.neighborhoodlink.com/org/moseswfieldhouse/clubhome.html

For more info on THAW, visit: http://www.thawfund.org/

And for those nay-sayers who may be muttering things like, "well, that's what you get for living in Detroit" or, "the people in Haiti or some other depressed part of the world needs more help than this guy...." I invite you to read this aritcle: http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/01/25/haiti-is-not-our-long-term-responsibility-detroit-is