Matt Jachman

hometownlife.com

At age 6, Caleb White was making a difference where many others would look away.

Caleb, now 14, a Northville resident and a freshman at Catholic Central High School in Novi, has for years been stopping on Detroit street corners and at shelters to ease the lives of homeless people.

"If I were in that position, I would want help, too," Caleb said during an event at a Detroit shelter.

"I guess I just like to help," he added. "I make a lot of friends here through volunteering. It's a big part of who I am."

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He is founder of the Caleb White Project, a charitable organization with a twofold mission: to aid down-on-their-luck people and to develop leadership skills among young people that will equip them to serve their communities.

"They need to eventually step up and pass it on, too," he said.

'True heart of gold'

Caleb, with the support of family, friends, classmates and volunteers and donors, plus the backing of corporate heavy hitters like Quicken Loans' Dan Gilbert, offers people in need direct aid in a variety of ways. Among them:

• Each year since 2008, he's gone to Detroit at Christmas time to hand out care packages, with essentials like hats, gloves, food, toiletries and, more recently, socks.

• Every summer since 2014, he and other volunteers set aside a day to distribute backpacks stuffed with school supplies to Detroit children. The back-to-school event has become a miniature carnival, with food, games and activities, plus free haircuts and manicures.

• At least one Saturday each month, he and his crew visit Genesis House II, a west-side shelter for homeless women and children that's part of the Detroit Rescue Mission. Young people, the middle-aged and seniors, black and white, enjoy pizza and pop, laugh and talk and play games and work on crafts.

• Caleb and volunteers in December threw a Christmas party for about 60 homeless military veterans at another DRM shelter. Sponsors that included Domino's Pizza, Novi's Oak Pointe Church and the Catholic Central wrestling team "adopted" veterans, providing each with a personalized gift package. Caleb and other volunteers had interviewed the men beforehand to find out their needs, wants — and clothing sizes.

"Caleb White is dear to our hearts. He is a young man with a true heart of gold," Chad Audi, president of Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, said in an email. "Detroit needs more difference-makers like Caleb White."

Empathy started early

Caleb's concern started when he was 6.

"He saw somebody sleeping outdoors on the way home from the circus and wanted to build him a house," said his mother, Melissa Kennedy.

He also asked questions. "I didn't know what homelessness meant," Caleb said.

Later that year, before Christmas, Caleb returned to Detroit with about 10 care packages, handing them out to people on the streets.

"That's when all of this began," he said. "Every year after that, more people got involved."

The effort's reach grew, too; Caleb's most recent gift distribution, in which he got help from CC wrestlers, totaled about 250 gifts.

Caleb helps without judgment. He recognizes some are homeless because of poor decisions, others because of circumstances beyond their control and the lack of a support system.

"It doesn't matter what choices you made," he said. "We're going to help you either way."

He is, in part, motivated by his Catholic faith. "We're called to live like Jesus or called to walk in his footsteps," he said.

The work keeps everyone — his mother, father Bryan White and other family members, Caleb White Project board members and fellow Shamrocks and other volunteers — active.

"I always joke that Caleb sort of gets us into these projects before I have a chance to think about it," Melissa Kennedy said, adding the projects lead to "crazy busy" times. "It always comes together."

Caleb, however, still finds time for CC sports, like track and cross-country, his schoolwork, playing the French horn and, now, driver's ed.

Fostering leadership

Caleb often speaks to school groups about service — pitching in to make the world a better place. The talks are part of the leadership-building mission; another part is the CWP leadership board, which is made up of young people like himself.

"He is passionate about homelessness, but he really just wants young people to understand that they can make a difference and he challenges them to be leaders in something that they care about," his mother said.

He is also increasingly sought after by adult audiences. Earlier this month in Miami, Caleb spoke to about 300 executives from the vaccine division of Merck & Co., the pharmaceutical firm, about service. His talk followed a Merck-sponsored event — a game night, with a traditional Cuban dinner — at a Miami shelter the previous day.

"He's got a movement going," said Pete Hayek, who works in Merck's vaccine division. Hayek, volunteering at a recent Genesis House II game night, helped book Caleb for the event and for a smaller Merck gathering in Indianapolis last August.

"The impression that Caleb made in Miami was long-lasting," Hayek wrote later in an email. "Merck employees left inspired by his talk and by their game-night experience. Our vaccine teams feel a great responsibility to protect our young people and Caleb reminded them why they do what they do."

Caleb has won recognition for his work, including the Prudential Spirit of Community Award, the Governor's Youth Volunteer of the Year Award and, most recently, the National Catholic Educational Association's Virtues, Vision and Valor Award.

Contact Matt Jachman: mjachman@hometownlife.com | 734-678-8432 | Twitter: @mattjachman