Ellen DeGeneres Reveals $500K Surprise for Detroit School

DETROIT, MI – TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and Lowe’s home improvement stores are teaming in a $500,000 effort to help Detroit Public Schools repair one of its most dilapidated neighborhood schools — Spain Elementary-Middle School, where students are often poor or homeless and health and safety concerns have sparked national outrage.

DeGeneres said in video segment taped simultaneously in Burbank and Detroit that Lowe’s was donating $500,000 to help fix up the rodent-infested school, where warped floors forcing children out of the gymnasium and into the hallways to hold p.e. classes are among a host of problems that have contributed to teacher sick-outs.

“When I heard about (the conditions at Spain), I knew I had to help,” DeGeneres said.

Toward the end of the segment, DeGeneres announced another surprise to students and staff who had gathered for a mystery assembly in the Spain cafeteria, where video cameras captured the the reaction in Detroit:

Teen heartthrob Justin Bieber announced that he’s giving Spain a $1 for each ticket sold when his World Purpose Tour comes to The Palace of Auburn Hills on  April 25.

“That’s a lot of tickets,” DeGeneres said. “That’s a big auditorium.”

DeGeneres and teachers at Spain highlighted some of the other problems. Children often wear their coats inside the school because not all parts of the building are heated. Panels are missing in both the floors and the ceilings, and there aren’t enough books to go around.

To compensate, teacher Ellen Morgan explained on the video, teachers make copies of the books so kids can take them home at night and do their homework. Copying is expensive. Parents step in and “do what they need to do” so their kids have books, Morgan said.

The donations announced on the video include $100 Visa gift card for each teacher and staff member. Under the Lowe’s Heroes program, the home improvement giant will donate $50,000 in technology; $200,000 in material and labor, which can be used for any building need; and $250,000 cash.

DeGeneres said she’s starting a GoFundMe campaign — we’ve created a widget right below this paragraph that allows you to give right now — that will help the school with future needs. Almost $19,000 had been raised by 2:30 p.m. Thursday.