Mittens for Kids

COVID-19 has changed life as we know it. That’s especially true for hundreds of homeless students and their families in Macomb County, who will be getting some help from the Extra Credit Union.

The ECU’s Mittens for Kids drive to collect cold weather items and toiletries was able to raise $1,840 for the purchase of $140 in gift cards, and 510 personal care items including hats, gloves, scarves, socks, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap and other items.

“We know these donations are important every year, but most especially during this pandemic when many have lost their jobs or aren’t able to work due to COVID-19. We are so glad we are able to help the community with our financial literacy efforts and products and services such as those that help to keep the heat on or an auto loan to help someone get to and from work. But efforts like these are particularly close to our hearts,” said Deidra Williams, CEO and president of Extra Credit Union.

The annual effort supports the Macomb Intermediate School District’s (MISD) Homeless Education Project, which provides registered homeless students and their families in Macomb County with community resources as well as personal care items and even food.

Last school year ended with 1,104 registered homeless students in the county. This year, there are currently 735 registered homeless students in Macomb County but that number is expected to go up as the districts return to in-person classes.

“COVID-19 and remote learning has made it more difficult to identify homeless students in the county,” Jackie Chase, who works with the MISD

“We know COVID has affected all of us in one way or another and it’s so wonderful to see that despite their own personal struggles during this challenging time, our staff and members want to help those in their community as much as possible.”

— Deidra Williams, CEO and president of Extra Credit Union

Homeless Education Project, said.

This is the 10th Mittens for Kids drive the credit union has hosted annually to benefit the project. And most years, the donations greatly increase. Last year, the credit union donated $1,500 and more than 400 personal care items.

Williams said she is pleased with the credit union’s efforts to help these homeless students and their families year after year—an effort that also supports the credit union’s legacy of having been started by a group of local teachers 65 years ago.

“We know COVID has affected all of us in one way or another and it’s so wonderful to see that despite their own personal struggles during this challenging time, our staff and members want to help those in their community as much as possible. I’m so proud to have a staff and membership that is so giving,” she said.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer unwittingly has become the poster child for increased transparency in government and easier public access under the Freedom of Information Act.

That could eventually be good news for Michiganders and bad news for a governor some perceive as in crisis.

In her latest misstep, Whitmer reached separation agreements with at least three departing state officials that include confidentiality clauses that prevent the workers and the governor from disclosing details of their departures.

Steve Gray, former director of the state Unemployment Insurance Agency, and Sarah Esty, who served as a deputy director while Robert Gordon led the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, reached separation deals in addition to a pact with Gordon.

Gordon received a $155,506 settlement. Gray got $85,872 and Esty four weeks’ pay or about $11,600.

But why? That’s the question the governor can’t answer because of the confidentiality clauses.

Some, particularly Republicans in the Legislature, say it is “hush money.”

“I really bristle at that characterization,” Whitmer said at a recent news conference. “When someone in a leadership position leaves there are terms to it and you can’t share every term to it. That’s simply what it is.”

Not hush money? Really? Merriam-Webster dictionary: Hush Money – money paid so that someone will keep information secret; money a person pays to someone to hush something up.

And that’s exactly what the governor and the departed employees did.

While Whitmer notes such separation agreements often include confidentiality, there is a big difference here.

Whitmer is acting like a CEO of a private company. Only in this case it’s not company funds being allocated, the governor is giving away our tax dollars.

And she can’t tell her constituents why.

The furor over the secret settlements has renewed interest in whether it’s time for the Legislature to expand open records laws. The Associated Press reported recently that the Michigan Legislature paid out more than $600,000 since 2010 to settle legal disputes with terminated employees and did not provide details, citing their confidential nature.

As it stands now, Michigan is the only state that exempts its legislature and the governor’s office from open records laws.

Said State Rep. Pat Outman, a Republican from Six Lakes, in a Detroit News report: “The people in Michigan deserve more transparency in their state government, including their elected officials. I think recent events really highlight the need for some sort of FOIA expansion here in Michigan.”

Indeed. In 2015, the Center for Public Integrity and Global Integrity conducted a national study of state ethics and transparency laws and safe guards, which found that Michigan was the least transparent state in the nation.

If Michigan lawmakers are serious about change, they need look no further than the state of Missouri.

There, just this year, information on settlements of lawsuits exceeding $3 million was released.

That’s because then-Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley followed through on a pledge to release monthly reports on settlements paid by the state, as well as associated court costs and other expenses.

“Missouri citizens deserve transparency and accountable government, especially in the expenditure of their tax dollars,” Hawley, a Republican, said in a letter to the Legislature.

Will Michigan follow suit? Or will Whitmer keep treating our tax dollars like they are hers to spend without accountability?