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Unclaimed Dead Bodies Clear Detroit Morgue After Help From Celebrities
BY TAHMAN BRADLEY
DETROIT, Feb. 5, 2010—
For months, dozens of unclaimed bodies piled up in coolers inside the Wayne County morgue in Detroit and in a trailer parked outside.
News reports on the problem last fall became a chilling reminder of the economic hardship plaguing the city. With unemployment in Detroit close to 30 percent, many families of the dead cannot afford to pay for their loved ones to be buried or cremated.
Amid that economic backdrop, the number of piled-up, unclaimed bodies rose to 67 by October.
Former Motown Records executive Shanti Das was in her office in New York one night when she saw an article on the Internet about the unclaimed bodies.
“It really just struck a nerve with me,” said Das. “My heart just went out to those families, thinking it was such a tragedy that they couldn’t afford to bury their loved ones.”
That night, Das decided that even though she had no experience doing non-profit work she had to help — immediately.
The next morning, she sent out a letter to her colleagues in the music industry asking for money to help the families in Detroit bury their loved ones.
“Typically when I think of Detroit, I think ‘Motown,’ the city that captured our hearts with some of today’s most respected artists/music of our time!” she wrote. “I am sure most of you are aware of the financial crisis that the city of Detroit is currently experiencing. I come to you today not to talk about music, but a basic human issue that is all too sad!”
With that, Das set up May WE Rest in Peace, an organization dedicated to raising money to bury the unclaimed bodies. Celebrities Kid Rock, Akon and Busta Rhymes each made contributions right away. There was a public call to action announced on the BET program “106 and Park.”
Within weeks, through Das’ contacts in the music industry and help from people visiting her Web site, May WE Rest in Peace had raised $3,000, enough to bury six people.
The group’s money helped relieve a dire funding shortfall. The $21,000 in Wayne County funds set aside to bury unclaimed bodies dried up last June. And even though space had run out at the morgue, the county said it could not afford to appropriate more money towards burying the corpses because of a $105 million budget deficit.
Das: ‘It Just Kind of Hit Home for Me’
Helping the Detroit families in need was very personal for Das. Growing up in Atlanta, Das’ father passed away when she was 6 months old and her mom was worried about coming up with enough money to bury him. Her mother, years later, told her just how stressful the situation was.
“It just kind of hit home for me,” Das said. “It was such a personal reaction that I just wanted to help those people.
“It’s hard enough when people are living and they can’t afford to take care of themselves,” she said. “These people have no one working on their behalf. They are deceased. I thought it was such a shame. I just wanted to restore some dignity to these families.”
She has, in fact, been able to help a number of families bury their loved ones with dignity. In just three months, Das’ organization has raised more than $20,000 — enough to bury 26 people. She said there’s more work to do and she looks forward soon to sending in another $5,000 check.
Local officials in Detroit say the work by Das’ organization and others has made a difference.
“I think there was a shock that this situation even existed, and that’s why I think you saw the outpouring — the feedback from across the county,” said Dennis Niemiec, a spokesman for Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano.
The county said $30,000 had been raised from people concerned about the problem. That money, along with money from the county’s budget for the 2010 fiscal year, is enough to remove the unclaimed bodies that remain.
“We’ve found an honorable way to give these people a proper burial,” said Albert Samuels, chief investigator of the morgue.
Samuels expects the morgue will release enough bodies over the next couple of days that it can stop storing corpses in the freezer truck outside the morgue that still holds 29 bodies.
“Hopefully, the trailer will become a thing of the past in a few weeks,” he said.
To further reduce the cost of burials, the county has worked out a deal with a local cemetery to cremate the bodies at a reduced cost, is pursuing additional funds from the state and hopes to give Wayne State University some bodies as anatomical gifts, Samuels said.
Finding space for the approximately 10 to 12 bodies that come through the facility every day has been a problem for many years. Although some the dead bodies are decomposed so badly that dental and fingerprint identification is useless, Samuels keeps a record of information on the bodies just in case the families can later identify a tattoo or some other body markings.
‘Humans Bury Their Dead’
But even among the bodies that can be identified, many of the families will not — or perhaps cannot, because of financial hardship — claim them.
That is something Samuels can’t fathom.
“Coming from a large family, I cannot in my mind figure out your not picking up a sibling or somebody,” he said. “One of the things that separates humans from animals is humans bury their dead. I can’t see leaving a loved one in this condition. Give them their final resting place.”
Samuels also thinks the local and national news coverage of the situation at the morgue has a big help.
“It was positive,” he said. “A lot of people didn’t know these types of things were happening. Unfortunately, Detroit is not unique in this. We’re finding out this is happening all over the country.”
Das wants to continue raising funds for Detroit until every unclaimed body is out of the morgue and buried or cremated. But she knows her work can’t stop there because of the reports that the problem extends beyond Detroit.
Das soon plans to raise money for families in other cities struggling to pay for the burial of their dead.
By Jazmine Steele
The Michgan Citizen
For years as a music industry executive, Shanti Das’ mission was to shape the careers of popular artists such as TLC, OutKast, Usher and Busta Rhymes. Less than six months ago, a CNN headline read: “Detroit’s Dead: Too broke to bury their dead.” It sparked another mission for her life.
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| Shanti Das |
“I knew the city was going through a lot of financial hardships,” Das said. “I thought ‘Wow this city was once thriving and so vibrant and contributed so much to the music industry.’”
Inspired by Berry Gordy and Detroit’s Motown era, she felt compelled to help address this issue.
Das wasted no time in crafting an email to send to about 300-400 friends and family members to garner support to help Detroit bury the unclaimed dead bodies accumulating at the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s office. In the beginning she worked off impulse, completely unaware of how things would turn out.
“Death is a taboo subject and not a lot of people like to deal with the subject, so I wasn’t quite sure how people were going to react,” she said. “I was pleasantly surprised.”
Das’ influence helped bury 26 people since the formation of her nonprofit, May We Rest In Peace. She created the organization in October 2009 and has raised an additional $22,000 since its inception.
When the story broke the Wayne County Medical Examiner had nearly 70 bodies stacked in their freezers, about two times more than their yearly budget allots for unclaimed bodies.
“There are still bodies; the problem isn’t over but at least now I can see light at the end of the tunnel,” Albert Samuels, Chief Investigator and Facility Administrator for the Wayne County Medical Examiner, said.
Samuels attributes May We Rest In Peace to playing a significant role in dropping the unclaimed body inventory to around 30 bodies today.
Corpses end up in the county’s freezer as a result of the investigators at the medical examiner being unable to locate a next of kin or a families’ inability to afford a proper burial. In the cases where money is the issue, families may or may not communicate their financial problems and simply never pick the bodies up.
“It’s something we all will have to face one day but the biggest problem is this isn’t something you get to rehearse,” Samuels said. “You can rehearse a wedding, you can’t rehearse death.”
According to local funeral homes, very basic burial costs around $3,000 and $900 for cremation. The State awards need-based grants of $700 for burial and $600 for cremation to applicants patient enough to get through the system’s bureaucracy.
Cremation is the most cost-effective option with the supplement of the grant but isn’t always the most desirable one.
Thanks to supporters like Das, Detroit’s unclaimed dead can receive a burial and truly rest in peace.
“It’s a really good feeling to know my efforts have really made a difference,” she said. “It’s the best Christmas/ New Year’s gift.”
Busta Rhymes and Akon, a few of the very artists Das has supported for many years, returned the favor to help her with this cause. Kid Rock’s foundation, in the name of Detroit Clothing Company, also supported her effort.
“Too often you don’t see the great efforts that are done by hip hop artists, and not even just hip hop but also the music industry in general,” Das said.
“It’s from a human perspective. I don’t care that I work in the music industry it just touched my heart as a human being that these people had no one there to support them.”
Das’ work in Detroit isn’t over. She plans to continue fundraising until there are no unburied bodies left in the freezer at the Wayne County Morgue. May We Rest In Peace will then carry its efforts to another urban area facing the same problem.
“I don’t want anything out of this,” Das said. “I just want people to know that their family members have been taken care of, dignity has been restored and they now have the option to go visit a burial site.”
For more information about May We Rest In Peace or to donate visit, www.maywerestinpeace.org
Monday, January 4, 2010 | 6:55 AM
by Jenisha Watts
In Detroit, the tough economy has prevented some residents the privilege of burying their loved ones. Dead bodies are bagged and tagged individually in black plastic bags in the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s refrigerated storage rooms. They are “stacked like shoe boxes,” an image that haunts Shanti Das.
One night while working late, Das, a former Motown Records executive, remembered she had not read the daily financial news. She clicked on CNN Money and saw the headline, “Detroit: Too Broke To Bury Their Dead,” followed with an image of the bodies.
“I was thinking there is something really wrong with this picture,” says Das. “That’s when I immediately wanted to help.”
The same night: she came up with a nonprofit organization, “May WE Rest In Peace,” that helps bury deceased residents in Detroit whose families can’t afford a proper burial. The same night: she wrote to friends and family, a four paragraph e-mail using all caps in some lines saying “I NEED YOUR HELP” signing off “Hear My Cry”. The next morning: she went to her local UPS store and got a mailbox, so people could immediately send donations.
Published by Dior Noir on Monday, January 4, 2010 at 3:00 pm.
Former Motown executive and philanthropist, Shanti Das, is bringing the city of Detroit good news for the new year by way of her recently formed organization May We Rest In Peace!
Due to the economy some residents have been unable to bury their loved ones which has resulted in plastic body bags piling up in the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s refrigerated storage rooms to the tune of 3,700 bodies a year.
According to Essence when Das read a headline in CNN Money that said, “Detroit: Too Broke To Bury Their Dead,” followed with an image of the bodies she decided to do she decided to do something about it that night.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For More Information Contact:
W&W Public Relations, Inc.
Patti Webster / patti@w-wpr.com
732-469-5955
MUSIC EXECUTIVE SHANTI DAS RAISES OVER $20,000 IN JUST A FEW WEEKS OF LAUNCHING ‘MAY WE REST IN PEACE’ PHILANTHROPY
Funding Burials for Detroit’s Unclaimed Deceased, Nonprofit Has Raised Money to Cover 20 Burials Within 2 Months of Launching
DETROIT, MI (December 15, 2009) – Music industry veteran Shanti Das recently launched the nonprofit organization, “May WE Rest in Peace”, to give back to the city of Detroit, whose ongoing economic hardships have affected more than the city, the state, and its living residents. Just launched in October 2009, Das has thus far raised $20,000 to cover 20 burials in Detroit, with early support from artists such as Busta Rhymes, Akon, the Kid Rock Foundation in the name of Detroit Clothing Company, and other generous donors.
With 67 bodies and counting lying unclaimed in Detroit’s morgue freezer, CNNMoney gave light in October 2009 to another hardship resulting from these current dark economic times for Detroit. 67 of Detroit’s deceased, some who have been deceased for up to 5 years, were piling up in the morgue, with no timeline for burial due to the economic hardships of their loved ones and the exhausted budget of the city. Coming across this story online, former Universal/Motown Records music executive Shanti Das was struck to help out the city of Motown lay to rest their unclaimed deceased, and immediately launched “May WE Rest in Peace”.
Any type of burial can cost from $700 to several thousand dollars, and Das, who’s experienced her own loss of loved ones over the years, was well familiar with the financial cost and the kindness of others in helping her own family arrange a proper burial at such a challenging emotional time. Upon seeing the story on Detroit’s problem, Das immediately thought, “What if it was MY mother, father, or loved one lying there in the morgue and I couldn’t afford to properly lay them to rest??” Although she isn’t from Detroit, Das says, “There were just a lot of things that hit home for me, and I just wanted to immediately take action.”
Calling on family, friends and loved ones, Das raised immediate support for “May WE Rest in Peace”, raising $6,000 in just a few weeks of launching, with an outpouring of early support from recording artists such as Busta Rhymes, Akon, the Kid Rock Foundation in the name of Detroit Clothing Company, and numerous other generous donors, and was able to provide burials for 6 of Detroit’s unclaimed deceased within 6 weeks of the CNNMoney story.
Since the launch in October 2009, the endeavors of “May WE Rest in Peace” have been covered by CNNMoney and BET, and have now raised $20,000 to cover 20 burials in Detroit. The number of unburied bodies in Detroit is now down to 50. With the hardships of the officials in Detroit and its residents, Das is inspired by the response she has gotten, and is continuing her mission with “May WE Rest in Peace” to help ensure that Detroit and its deceased are not forgotten.
For more information or to make donations, please visit www.maywerestinpeace.org.
Music industry veteran Shanti Das recently launched the nonprofit organization, May WE Rest in Peace, to give back to the city of Detroit, whose ongoing economic hardships have affected more than the city, the state, and its living residents. Just launched in October 2009, Das has thus far raised $20,000 to cover 20 burials in Detroit, with early support from artists such as Busta Rhymes, Akon, the Kid Rock Foundation in the name of Detroit Clothing Company, and other generous donors.
With 67 bodies and counting lying unclaimed in Detroit’s morgue freezer, CNNMoney gave light in October 2009 to another hardship resulting from these current dark economic times for Detroit. 67 of Detroit’s deceased, some who have been deceased for up to 5 years, were piling up in the morgue, with no timeline for burial due to the economic hardships of their loved ones and the exhausted budget of the city. Coming across this story online, former Universal/Motown Records music executive Shanti Das was struck to help out the city of Motown lay to rest their unclaimed deceased, and immediately launched May WE Rest in Peace.
After recently launching “May WE Rest in Peace”, a non-profit organization to give back to the city of Detroit, music executive Shanti Das has been able to raise $20,000 since its initial beginnings in October.
The funds have been raised to cover the burial of unclaimed bodies that have been lefy lying in Detroit’s morgue freezer. At a count of 67 bodies, the money will be able to cover 20 burials.
Contributions and support have come from the likes of Busta Rhymes, Akon, the Kid Rock Foundation in the name of Detroit Clothing Company, along with many other donors willing to lend a helping hand.
Detroit finds dignity in death
A record number of unclaimed bodies are piling up in the Detroit morgue. But thanks to a stranger, some are being laid to rest.
By Poppy Harlow, CNNMoney.com anchor
DETROIT (CNNMoney.com) — Six people. Buried. In Detroit.
At the funeral for six of Detroit's unclaimed dead.
Each of the deceased were given a simple pine casket.
Bodies piling up in the Detroit morgue.
Just six weeks ago, a record number of bodies lay unclaimed in the freezer of the Wayne County morgue. Some had been there for years.
But now, the tally has fallen from 67 to 52 thanks to Shanti Das. The former New York-based music executive with Universal Motown Records raised the money to pay for six of those people to be interred.
“They were stacked up like shoes in a closet,” Das recalled thinking after CNNMoney reported what was happening at 1300 E. Warren St. in October. “It was such a horrific situation. I thought, ‘Oh my god, we have to try and restore some dignity to these families.’”
Even though Das isn’t from Detroit, the corpses triggered a very personal reaction: Her father had committed suicide when she was just eight months old, and Das’ mother had struggled to find the money to bury him.
“There were just a lot of things that hit home for me, and I just wanted to immediately take action,” she said.
Das started the nonprofit organization May We Rest in Peace with a single goal: Bury all the unclaimed bodies in Detroit. She raised $6,000 in just a few weeks, calling on her personal connections with recording artists such as Busta Rhymes and Akon.
And on a crisp, clear November afternoon, with the sun shining down on a burial plot at Knollwood Cemetery, on the outskirts of Detroit, six people were laid to rest.
Charles Hopkins.
Karen McDermott.
Paul McGrath.
Valinda Miles.
Michael Wilcox.
Frank Woodward.
“Without these additional funds…they’d be in our cooler system,” said the morgue’s chief investigator, Al Samuels.
Instead, these six people are no longer numbers on body bags. Each person was given a simple pine casket. Each case number replaced by a name. For the families, there is now dignity in death.
The economic downturn has hit Detroit so hard that many families have been unable to find the money to bury their loved ones. So they’ve abandoned the bodies in the morgue, hoping that the county will find the funds to offer a final resting place. But the county was out of money, so the bodies piled up.
When we called Detroit native Michael McGrath to tell him that his father, Paul, would be buried with funds from Das’ foundation, he was shocked. Once next of kin sign off on leaving the deceased, that is generally their last contact with the morgue.
“With today’s economic state you just don’t know when your next paycheck is going to look like,” McGrath said. “My father had requested he be buried, so this is really something that is going to help me sleep at night. It’s going to be something that we can always look back and think that somebody was there to help us when we needed it or help my father when he needed it.”
Shortly after the burial a handful of people gathered at Perry Funeral Home in downtown Detroit to pay their respects to the six people they never knew. Paul Betts was one the attendees. The local construction worker began organizing such monthly services for the unclaimed 16 months ago. To him, it’s a matter of pride.
“We’re a city known for abandoned houses. We’re certainly not going to let them know us as abandoning our people”, Betts said.
“No one’s alone,” added Betsy Deak, the funeral home’s operations manager. “We feel like islands but not one of us is. A loss of someone who died three years ago is everybody’s loss.”
And while 52 bodies remain unclaimed in Wayne County’s morgue freezer, their situation is less dire than before. The county’s fiscal 2010 budget has been approved, and it allots $22,000 for unclaimed burials. Plus, there is state aid available to help families.
“I think the worst is over,” said investigator Samuels.
Nevertheless, Das’ goal remains unchanged. She intends to raise enough to bury all the abandoned. “It’s going to take one person like me and a million others to start shedding lights on these problems,” she said. “But just because I’m a country girl from Atlanta doesn’t mean I can’t help someone in Detroit.”
First Published: November 16, 2009: 10:15 AM ET
Thank you Poppy Harlow @ CNNMoney.com
Thanks to everyone that has donated thus far and that we have been able to lay 6 loved ones to rest in Detroit.
Shanti
