Receiving the Community Champion Award
Donnell Wyche was honored to receive Avalon Housing’s Community Champion Award. This recognition is not a finish line, but fuel for the journey toward housing justice. Together we can choose abundance over scarcity and build a city where everyone has a place to call home.
On September 18, 2025, I had the incredible honor of receiving Avalon Housing’s Community Champion Award at their annual Home for Good fundraiser.
Avalon’s work has long inspired me. They are not just a housing provider—they are a prophetic voice in our city, reminding us that housing is not a privilege, but a human right. To be recognized by an organization whose mission I so deeply respect is humbling beyond words.
In my acceptance speech, I reflected on a journey that began more than a decade ago, when I attended the first meeting about what would become The Grove. At the time, the site was a juvenile detention center—a place that had divided families. That night, I went with my interns full of hope that one day the land could be transformed into something that brought families together instead.
That hope is what has sustained me in housing advocacy. To see families now living in homes on that site is joyful—and bittersweet. Avalon opened 20 affordable units to the public, and over 7,000 families applied. That number isn’t just a statistic; it’s a moral indictment of how we’ve chosen to structure our city.
Words From My Acceptance Speech
“As a pastor, I’ve learned that hope is not passively waiting. Instead, hope actively trusts, and it leads to persistent action. And that’s what this work requires: persistent action rooted in the fundamental belief that everyone deserves a place to call home.
The Grove is proof that when we persevere, we can transform vacant land into sacred ground. But to get this vision fully formed, it’s going to take all of us—advocates, neighbors, policymakers, faith communities—to keep pushing until everyone has a place to call home.
So I accept this award not as a finish line, but as fuel for the journey ahead.”
Why This Matters
Housing is not abstract. It’s about the family sleeping in their car, the student choosing between rent and groceries, the senior who can’t age in place. Housing delayed is housing denied.
Avalon has shown us what is possible. Now it’s on all of us—advocates, neighbors, policymakers, and faith communities—to build a city where belonging isn’t just a feeling, but something woven into the bricks and mortar of our neighborhoods.
Gratitude
I am grateful to Avalon Housing for this recognition, to the community of Ann Arbor Community Church for walking with me in this work, and to the many advocates across our city who continue to choose abundance over scarcity, creativity over fear, and hope over resignation.
This award is not the end of the story—it’s encouragement to keep pressing forward until every neighbor has a place to call home.
Community Champion Award Acceptance Speech
Given by Rev. Donnell Wyche on September 18, 2025
Thank you.
I am deeply honored to receive this community champion award from Avalon Housing. To be recognized by an organization whose mission is centered in creating safe, affordable, and dignified homes—friends, it is humbling. Avalon, for me, has been a prophetic voice in our city, helping us to see and understand that housing is not a privilege, but a human right.
This award is personal. Over a decade ago, I attended the first meeting about what would become the Grove. This site had been a juvenile detention center, a place that had torn families apart. I was there with my interns, full of hope that we could see this land transformed into something that would bring families together. That hope didn’t just sustain my advocacy—that hope started it.
Tonight, seeing housing finally built on the site fills me with joy, but let me tell you the truth: it is also bittersweet. It is joyful because dozens of families have homes. It’s bittersweet because when Avalon opened the 20 affordable units to the general public, over 7,000 families applied. Friends, that’s not just a statistic. That’s a moral indictment of how we’ve chosen to structure our city.
As a pastor, I’ve learned that hope is not passively waiting. Instead, hope actively trusts, and it leads to persistent action. And that’s what this work requires: persistent action rooted in the fundamental belief that everyone deserves a place to call home.
The housing crisis we face is not abstract. It is deeply personal for every family sleeping in their car, for every student choosing between rent and groceries, for every senior on a fixed income watching their neighborhood become unaffordable because they can’t age in place. Housing delayed is housing denied.
We have a choice. We can choose abundance over scarcity. We can choose creativity over fear. We can build a city where housing choices exist everywhere, where children are free, where they are secure, where they are loved, where neighbors gather and form deep connections. This is a city where belonging isn’t just a feeling, but something built into the very bricks and mortar of our neighborhoods.
Avalon has shown us what is possible. The Grove is proof that when we persevere, we can transform vacant land into sacred ground. But to get this vision fully formed, it’s going to take all of us—advocates, neighbors, policymakers, faith communities—to keep pushing until everyone has a place to call home.
So I accept this award not as a finish line, but as fuel for the journey ahead. I accept it as a reminder that there are 6,980 families who are still waiting for us to build housing for them. And I accept it with deep, deep gratitude.
I am grateful for Avalon’s vision, and for all of you, all of us, who dare to imagine a more just, more inclusive, more welcoming Ann Arbor.
Thank you.