Thousands of gifts to be given to Detroit children thanks to music producer Filthy Rockwell
(CBS DETROIT) — Grammy-nominated multi-platinum music producer Filthy Rockwell continues to bring holiday cheer to families in Detroit.
Thousands of gifts have been donated by the community to his nonprofit "Filthy Cares" for the sixth annual Adopt-A-Block program.
Volunteers were hard at work Sunday wrapping those gifts, which will be given to children of all ages on Christmas Day.
"We scouring for specific neighborhoods where there's a high concentration of children, and those children are the ones that are going to be selected, that are going to be surprised on Christmas morning for a true Santa Claus experience," Shed Amin, marketing manager for Centauri Global Spirits said.
Rockwell says the program and his nonprofit started as an idea many years ago.
"It was an idea for, you know, when I was young, sometimes I didn't get a gift, sometimes I didn't get to get the gift I wanted. So, I dreamed that, hey, maybe one day somebody is going to show up with a gift," Rockwell said.
While that have never happened for Rockwell as a child, his nonprofit has succeeded in bringing the holiday spirit to those that need it most.
What started with just a handful of people has now grown to include dozens of volunteers and more than 5,000 gifts.
"We're so consumed and overwhelmed ourselves with our day-to-day, but you have to take for a moment to understand that as tough as it is for us, there's others where the toughness is on a whole other level, and that this, if anything else, is an opportunity where we can give back," Amin said.
Rockwell says seeing the joy on children's faces makes spending hours distributing gifts worth it.
"It's just all about just random acts of kindness and people showing up and giving some people Christmas that don't have Christmas sometimes or they might have Christmas, and we just still show up and, you know, just add on to it because they'll never forget the day that those random people knock on the door," Rockwell said.
He says hopefully this random act of kindness will show kids that the community cares and they will carry that in their hearts forever.
The nonprofit still needs volunteers to bring the true Santa Claus experience to families on Christmas Day.
Anyone who would like to help can meet at The Congregation at 9321 Rosa Parks Blvd. in Detroit at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.
