Shoes intended for an annual charity giveaway in Detroit were recently stolen from a local nonprofit organization’s warehouse. Now, the group is asking for your help.

NW Goldberg Cares was set to give away 1,000 pairs of sneakers at its annual Hoopfest, a community event tied to Mayor Mary Sheffield’s “Occupy the Summer” initiative, but on Friday, the nonprofit’s founder made a surprising discovery at their warehouse.

“I just happened to notice that something seemed very off about how many shoes were in the warehouse. Sure enough, I went to the back of the facility, saw a bunch of big boxes, as well as some bags that previously had sneakers in it, completely empty,” Daniel Washington, founder and executive director, NW Goldberg Cares, said.

Washington says a person or group stole about 400 pairs of shoes.

“From the looks of it, it looks like they were somehow able to pry up the door on the backside of the building, crawl underneath, and while somebody else was in, somebody was able to hand shoes out underneath the door,” he said.

Washington says a report was filed with the Detroit Police Department, but so far, they don’t have any leads.

“DPD staff is working on the case right now. We’ve been in contact with several sergeants on the issue, and at this point, we’re just hoping for some type of information on it or recovery of some sort,” Washington said.

The custom-designed brand shoes were donated by Social Status Detroit and USA Basketball. The value is more than $40,000.

“Depending on what shoes you’re talking about, you could go as up to $45,000 to $75,000. Because again, shoes, depending, were as much as $220 a shoe. So, a lot of loss,” Washington said.

Since the news broke, the community has stepped up to help.

“We have about over 130 pairs of individual shoes that were donated via our Amazon wish list, which has truly helped us in so many ways because, you know, without those types of donations, without people stepping up, you know, we would be up a creek without a paddle, as they say,” Washington said.

Hoopfest gives hope to kids and teens.

“For so many kids across this great city, they might not have ever had a brand new pair of shoes, right? Money is tight in the household, and at the end of the day, we want to give them that level of confidence or give them that little boost to say, ‘Hey, you deserve the experience of opening up a brand new pair of shoes,’” Washington said.

Washington shared the following final message with CBS News Detroit on Sunday:

“I encourage anybody who needs help, just reach out before you make it or do an act like this that compromises the integrity of an event like ours. Just reach out. Say, ‘We need help.’ Express your needs. Say, ‘Hey, we’d love some support in this way. Is there any way we could work alongside you?’”

The nonprofit founder says they’re resilient and they’re not going to let the incident stop Hoopfest from being a success. The event runs Friday through Sunday at Curtis Jones Park.

The Brewers drafted 20 players over the course of 20 rounds in the 2026 MLB Draft, including first-round shortstop Trey Ebel, second-round outfielder Sawyer Strosnider, Wilmot Union HS (Wisconsin) shortstop Chance Ruby, and CC Sabathia’s son, first baseman Carsten Sabathia III. The team now has until 4 p.m. CT on July 27 to sign each draft pick. We’ll keep track of the signees below.

Milwaukee’s total signing bonus pool is $8,042,900, which can be allocated as the team chooses (i.e., slot bonuses are not the guaranteed signing value). Rounds 11-20 automatically have $150,000 allocated to the slot — money given to these picks only counts toward the bonus pool if they exceed $150,000. Teams that exceed their bonus pool face financial penalties, with higher thresholds resulting in the loss of future picks.

A halt on the construction of data centers in Minneapolis took effect in July after the Minneapolis City Council discussed the need for more time to understand the facilities’ potential environmental impacts.

The Council approved the halt through November by an 8-5 vote in May. Members said the halt allows time to study the environmental impacts of data centers and plan their development more conscientiously. 

However, Council members not in favor of the halt said it will result in reduced tax revenue and may drive away businesses willing to invest in downtown Minneapolis.

Data centers are not new to the Minneapolis area, but community concerns have grown in recent months, President of Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council Dan McConnell said.

“Data centers have been around for decades,” McConnell said. “They’re not new. There just seems to all of a sudden be this hysteria around data centers.”

Celeste Robinson, policy aide to Minneapolis Council member Robin Wonsley, said the city should not rush the process because of the potential environmental trade-offs compared with the promised economic benefits. She said the halt could be extended to allow a full 12 months of analysis. 

Robinson said the Council’s halt on data centers allows for a more thorough evaluation of their impacts.

“I think that there’s a misconception that the City Council being deliberative and taking the time to do it right. I think that there’s been a portrayal that that’s somehow a bad thing,” Robinson said.

Robinson said, although data centers are often seen as an investment, there is no evidence the developments generate the economic benefits for communities that supporters claim they do. She said the Council wants to determine what resources they would potentially take from the city. 

“It is corporations who see land, fresh clean water, and electric grids that they can use for their profit, and that those profits get moved out of state to shareholders,” Robinson said. “They are not reinvested in our community, and so a lot of the rhetoric around data centers has really been about unverified claims around them being a source of investment.”

The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations’ website claims that data centers are a staple for the modern job market and help to create more jobs, but labor protections for workers and regulations to protect surrounding communities are needed.

Resolution 7, a plan created by the AFL and CIO, outlines labor protections for data center employees and regulations aimed to protect surrounding communities. The plan calls for legislation that would require data centers to conserve water and energy. It seeks transparency from data center operators, union labor agreements and policies requiring data center operators to pay their share of energy and water costs. 

In recent years, a lack of development in Minneapolis has seen a decline in commercial property value, leaving a shortfall of about $50 million in expected commercial property tax to fall onto the shoulders of residents, according to the Minneapolis Times. To help offset that shortfall and alleviate the burden that was placed on residents, Minneapolis must find new sources of revenue, Council member Elizabeth Shaffer said. 

Some believe data centers, often being large-scale commercial developments, can relieve these financial pressures. Shaffer said the data center located in the Sleep Number headquarters in downtown Minneapolis has had a positive financial impact on the city.

“The Sleep Number building increased its valuation to eight times what it was a year ago because of a data center,” Shaffer said. “That helps relieve the property tax burden that residents and apartment owners have been feeling.”

When property values increase, property tax revenue also increases, helping Minneapolis generate revenue and address its estimated $50 million deficit, Shaffer said. 

Robinson said data centers are not the only way for Minneapolis to generate revenue within the city. 

“Council member Wonsley has been looking at how do we tax the rich, how do we put fees on real estate transfers for extremely high-value real estate,” Robinson said. “There are so many things that the city council can be doing to bring in new revenue to shift the property tax burden off of working-class people, that is not related to letting big tech corporations build data centers.”