Secret Millionaire shares that giving back trend

Written by: Becca Waters '11
           The television network ABC has picked up on the growing trend of giving. On Sunday, March 6^th, the network aired a new show: Secret Millionaire. Secret Millionaire is also shown in the United Kingdom and has been aired since 2006, with this year being the shows sixth season on the air.

In 2008 the television network Fox gave Secret Millionaire a try but the show was only able to produce an average of 6.7 million viewers so the network cut the show from its schedule.

ABC, however, has had a much more successful run with the show.

The title, Secret Millionaire, gives the plot away. Some of America's most successful, self-made millionaires will spend a week in the country's poorest areas and ultimately reward some unsung community heroes with hundreds of thousands of dollars of their own money.

The “secret millionaires” will reside in local housing on welfare-level wages, and will try to find the most deserving people within the community and reward them with the financial help that they need. In some cases the millionaires give money and items that some of the organizations are in need of.

The trend of giving, giving back, or paying it forward, as it’s been called, has become increasingly possible within the last three or four years. Many television shows have made a point of proving that good natured human’s still exists among the tragic and less sustaining ways of our nation.

As of March 20^th three episodes of the show have aired. Dani Johnson was the first millionaire, a self made millionaire who built two companies and manufactured and developed a nutritional product line.

 Johnson donated money to The Love Kitchen, Joy of Music School, and Special Spaces. They were all organizations that Johnson spent time with learning about and bonding with people from each organization. Johnson gave a total of 100,000 dollars to the organizations in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Marc Paskin, the millionaire of the second episode. Paskin became a multi millionaire through real estate purchasing and selling. Paskin grew up poor and knows how it feels to struggle with finances; it wasn’t until his adult life that he came into money.

Paskin lives in San Diego, but he left the comforts of his beach house for the run down and suffering areas of Detroit, Michigan. Paskin is forced to live on less then ten dollars a day, the amount that an average single male on welfare in Detroit survives on.

                Over the course of Paskins stay in Detroit he finds three organizations that touch his heart: The Man Network, is a group of volunteers that patrol Detroit neighborhoods to prevent crime; Young Detroit Builders, an organization that helps young adults transform their lives through schooling and by learning how to build homes; and Really Living, an organization that offers Detroit's uninsured medical patients free transportation to their appointments.

                Paskin gives 110,000 dollars of his money to the people in Detroit that he spent his “secret” week with.

                The third episode to air of Secret Millionaire was the millionaire James Malinchak. Malinchak became a self mad millionaire first as a financial advisor then a motivational speaker.

                Malinchak resides near Las Vegas, Nevada, and for a week he lived in the steel mill town of Gary, Indian. Malinchak donated a total of 105,000 dollars and tools to the Adonia Community Service program; a non-profit organization that collects trash and picks up liter throughout the city Gary. Malinchak also gave to Urban Faithworks, an organization that provides a safe haven for children and teenagers after their school days.

                The foundation that touched Malinchak’s heart the most though, was the Baylor Youth Foundation. Baylor Youth Foundation is a non-profit organization formed to provide a safe, nurturing and engaging environment where at-risk urban youth are encouraged to develop their full potential through participation in athletic competition.

                Through the journeys that the millionaires ventured through they were all able to realize things about themselves and the world in which we all are living. Giving yourself, your time, or your money for someone in need, is always an honorable feeling.

Governor Snyder's budget effects ERPS

Written by: Ryan Hayward '13

                Throughout the last ten years, public schools in Michigan have taken several cuts to their budgets and have found ways to still function with less money. It seems as if the state thinks, “what could another cut hurt.” The problem is that schools are already operating on an extremely tight budget.

                New Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has proposed yet another cut to school funding for the 2011-2012 school year. If Governor Snyder’s plan makes it through the state legislature, where it may face stiff opposition, schools would receive an extra $300 per pupil cut added to the already proposed $170 cut to funds. The districts chief finance officer, Collin Smith, says that the cut would cost the district more than $800,000. Due to this cut, there is a probability that another ER school could be closed.

                Eaton Rapids Public Schools Superintendent, Dr. Bill DeFrance has been instructed by the Board of Education to create a budget proposal based around closing a building in the school district and reconfiguring existing buildings. The building most liable to close is Northwestern Elementary, which would only leave Lockwood Elementary and possibly Greyhound Intermediate School to hold the new flood of students.

                After considering the cut to the budget and increasing costs to the district, the expected budget gap is somewhere between $1.1 million and $1.9 million. But from the bad news comes a little bit of good. Technology and curriculum purchases will not be eliminated. No plans for privatizing operations will be made. Athletics and fine arts will not be eliminated. Busing will not be suspended or eliminated due to the amount of students that live in the country and have no way to get to school other than by bus. And good news for fans of swimming, the swimming pool will remain open.

                When asked about what his thoughts were about the proposal, ERHS Principal David Johnson said that the proposed cuts can affect the school by forcing a cutting of staff, paying more for playing sports, and eliminating elective classes, such as band, choir, and visual arts.

                Cuts like these would be detrimental to the student body; students wouldn’t be receiving education geared toward what they want to do in the future, but instead would receive a basic education. With the present economy, it could be hard for many students to get into a college to learn these things that are currently offered. Cuts to elective classes could possibly cause an uproar with the students and make more students want to find a different school to attend, which in turn would cause more economic problems for the school.

Mr. Johnson believes the government is not placing the value in education that they claim to be. He says, “The present economic climate has forced governments to critically evaluate how much money can be given to important programs. Unfortunately, education has become an area where the government is seeking to save money.”