Celebrating the Life of Manuel Yatooma
Yatooma’s Foundation for the Kids’ seeks to “bring tenderness to tragedy and turn tragedy into triumph”— a mission that sadly came directly from a tragedy.
In 1993, when Norman Yatooma was a 20-year-old student at Taylor University in Upland, Ind., he received a devastating call telling him that his father, Manuel Yatooma, was murdered while attempting to stop a carjacking.
He left behind a 45-year-old wife and four young sons.
Yatooma, now a successful attorney, made a sudden entrance into the legal field. He rifled through 63 claims filed against his father’s estate and settled his first case — against his extended family — before starting at Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington.
Ten years after his father’s death, Yatooma launched Yatooma’s Foundation for the Kids on Father’s Day. The United States Census Bureau estimates that one in 20 children will experience the death of a parent by the time they graduate from high school.
The foundation provides the support services that Yatooma didn’t have at the time of his father’s death: grief counseling and financial assistance for legal fees, tuition, rent, clothing and food, health care insurance and job placement — the three “Ps”: practical, professional and personal services.
The fourth annual Champions for the Kids two-day benefit — an elegant dinner and auction at the Townsend Hotel, followed by a golf tournament at Oakland Hills Country Club — grossed nearly $600,000. The event’s overall money raised is now more than $2 million.
“With increased awareness of what we do to help kids who have lost a parent, more families are reaching out to us for help,” said Yatooma, also president of Birmingham-based Norman Yatooma & Associates P.C. “We are now serving twice as many families as we did at this time last year. … Our goal is to help the families recover from grief and fulfill basic needs an bring the family back to independence.” ”
This year’s dinner was a sell out, with 355 people at the Townsend and 180 golfers the next day.
“A beautiful silver lining to the otherwise tragic loss of our father,” Yatooma said.
And the silver lining prevailed with the weather as well.
Last year, at this time, a horrible storm caused power outages for weeks. But the Townsend Hotel was one of the few area venues that still had power, Yatooma said.
“I had left to go to our event earlier,” he recalled. “And here comes my wife, out of our house, dressed to the nines in a ball gown and stilettos, and she was trapped in the garage because we had no power. She had to get up on a ladder and open the garage manually.”
She eventually made it to the dinner.
The power was lost, however, at Oakland Hills for the golf tournament. But the third annual event went on and was a success.
While the weather was pristine for this year’s dinner, golfers experienced a downpour during the putting contest the next morning.
But the fundraiser must go on, as they say, and Yatooma supporters, armed with umbrellas in one hand and putters in another, carried on with precision, especially Thomas Carroll, vice president of the Central Region, CBS Outdoor, and winner of the putting contest.
Always the consummate gentleman, Carroll donated his winning package — a Los Cabos vacation — back to the foundation to be auctioned off, on the spot, by Paul W. Smith of WJR AM 760, an event presenting sponsor. Smith, a foundation advisory board member, broadcast live from Oakland Hills the morning of the golf tournament. He also served as emcee for the dinner the night before.
The winning bidder for Carroll’s prize was Mario Sciberras of Saline Electronics. Sciberras’ golf foursome was the first place winner on the North Course. His team, sponsored by his company, included Rich Hahn, Ron Taulton and Mike Dennis.
“I am deeply grateful to the hundreds of sponsors, donors, volunteers and other partners in our mission who make this life-changing work possible,” Yatooma said. “Especially with many charity events being cancelled, or under attended, during these economically challenging times, we are very fortunate and blessed. Our Champions event this year — all in all — was a spectacular success for our guests and, most importantly, for the kids and families we serve.”
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