Cool Smart Inc.’s mission is to educate the youth and young professionals on the importance of philanthropy and increasing awareness of charitable initiatives in metropolitan areas through their cool, smart and fun programming. Their annual event, Tux and Chucks, is a fundraiser where they honor grassroots organizations that they have supported throughout the year.
The selection process for deciding the winning organizations is voted on by the people. Local 501©3 charities compete for votes to win a generous donation from the fundraiser. Voting began on Oct. 16 and ended on Oct. 27. The top two charities with the most votes won the popular vote and were presented with checks at this year’s annual event. The 2017 winning charities were Purposeful Youth Detroit and Building Better Men.
Rolling out was there to talk to the winners and learn more about these organizations.
“We are honored to be a recipient of the Tux and Chucks award that will directly benefit our youth in the program, ages 6 to 19 become better men,” said Odis Bellinger, program director and founder of the Matrix Building Better Men Program. “Because of the support of Tux and Chucks, I hope more people will not only want to support the program, but also spread the word to parents who are in need of our program.”
About the organization: Building Better Men has a mission to empower young men with the skills needed to become leaders in their community. The Building Better Men Program was founded on the principle that black and brown young men could become successful despite the internal pain suffered because of an absentee father.
Purposeful YOUth Detroit
“Winning is twofold for me, I’ve heard about Tux and Chucks and I’ve been wanting to come and I never imagined it being my first time as the beneficiary. It’s super exciting to win because I feel like this is the perfect forum to really spread the word and tell people that we are out here. We’ve been doing it from grassroots like Facebook, Instagram and word of mouth. But I think now we have the possibility to just catapult because everybody here who’s inspired by it will go tell at least one person and we can reach more lives so I’m just super excited.” –Nikkia Matthews, founder and CEO
https://www.pydetroit.com/
About the organization: Purposeful YOUth Detroit mission is to empower, educate and inspire youth to identify their purpose and develop into productive and audacious leaders of the national and global community.
To learn more about Tux and Chucks visit their website https://www.tuxandchucks.org/
