We are CAN | Michelle Mitchell
When Michelle Mitchell was 11, her mother became a single parent. She never showed the struggle. She never told her kids how hard it was. She just showed up, every day, and held things together — leaning on her siblings and parents when she needed to, protecting her children from what she could.
"She had a strength I have never seen," Michelle says. "And she still helps me raise my children to this day."
That image never left her. A mother holding a family together with whatever she had. A community quietly showing up to help. Years later, when Michelle learned about CAN Council, the connection was immediate. "The CAN Council is that family that others can lean on when in need," she says. "That is why I wanted to be a champion for children."
Michelle grew up in Saginaw, attended St. Stephens and then Nouvel, and has never left. She works at Consumers Energy, a company she credits with actively supporting her passion for community work and has served on multiple nonprofit boards including the Children's Museum and PRIDE in Saginaw. She came to CAN Council's board when a colleague who was rolling off asked if she'd be interested. Her answer was the same one she always gives when someone asks her to show up for her community: yes.
What makes Michelle's story particularly full is who shows up alongside her. Her husband, her sons, her mom, her friends have all folded themselves into her volunteer work over the years. They donate blankets when she posts the ask. They help organize the Locker. Her sons have grown up watching her give, and they give too now.
As a member of the Mardi Gras acquisitions committee, she spends months on the details before the big night: calls, texts, donation pickups, and last-minute asks. When auction night finally arrives, she finds a spot at the back of the room and watches. When a bid comes in on a package she helped put together, she feels it. "It made all of it worth it," she says, "to raise money to help the children in our community."
"I am most proud of the fact that my family is always there to support me and my crazy ideas," she says. Which doesn't sound crazy. It sounds like exactly the kind of life her mother modeled for her.
For anyone considering volunteering but not sure where to start, Michelle's advice is practical and generous: start small. One hour a month. One hour a quarter. "Even the smallest amount of time can make a big difference," she says.