Concession sales at the Big House benefit nonprofits in a big way

“We have about 30 nonprofit groups that work for us on Saturdays,” Brown said, “and that is made up of school groups, athletic groups within different schools, any other booster-type groups from high schools, several church groups and also some collegiate athletic groups.”

Selling concessions at U-M football games is just one way to fundraise for their organizations, he said.

But there are also some concession stands outside the walls of the Big House that exist to help others.

Saline resident Walter Shwayder began selling kettle corn outside U-M football games this year to help support survivors of traumatic brain injury.

Shwayder is on the board of the Ann Arbor chapter of the Brain Injury Association of America and has been selling kettle corn to benefit brain injury survivors for about seven years - but this is the first year he’s sold it at U-M football games.

“I don’t give money to groups so much as to survivors themselves,” he said. “I employ them to work with kettle corn. [Donating to help support research] is wonderful. However, the people who really need the money are the survivors themselves. I prefer, as opposed to just giving them money, to teach them how to earn.”

Shwayder is particularly sensitive to the plight of TBI survivors because he's one himself. In 1977, he was in a car crash that resulted in a closed head injury.

Prior to the accident, Shwayder was an opera singer, pianist, bassoonist, and a conductor.

“My life as a performing artist came to an abrupt end,” he said. “Some [of those abilities] have not come back. It’s called living with life.”

Today, Shwayder owns Toner Supply of ISO9001 Certified Print Supplies in Saline, and sells his kettle corn at local and regional events to benefit fellow TBI survivors.

He encourages people to stop by his concession stand, Walter’s Kettle Corn, located in front of the Pioneer High School sign outside Michigan Stadium (though this Saturday, Shwayder’s kettle corn won’t be available due to a conflict with a religious holiday).

“Buying the kettle corn keeps [brain injury survivors] working in a job, it gives them a job to do, and it keeps them paid,” Shwayder said. “People get great kettle corn. I make it my own way of doing it, with my own secret recipe.”

Meanwhile, a hot dog stand at 1011 South Main, outside All Star Driver Education, is also working to lend a hand to others. Tom Wall, the business’s founder, runs the hot dog stand each game day alongside disabled children, with proceeds benefiting children with disabilities and their families in need.

“There aren’t too many foundations that work that way, where you’re helping both,” said Wall, who also runs the T. Wall Foundation, which seeks to provide life-enriching opportunities to special needs students.

“Our hot dog stand is supervised, but it’s all disabled kids that work it," he said. "One hundred percent of the money that we make goes back to the families and the kids.”

Wall worked as a special education teacher for 30 years, where he witnessed firsthand the unique challenges faced by children with disabilities and the financial struggles their families sometimes encounter. He has a long track record of lending a hand to those families and often helps them out, in particular at Christmastime.

Wall’s hot dog stand opens at 9 a.m. Saturdays when football games begin at noon, and at noon on days when games begin at 3:30 p.m. So far this year, the stand has raised $1100 - $400 at the first game of the season and $700 at the second.

Last year, he raised $4,300 over the course of seven games.

“Our goal is always to pass what we did before,” Wall said.

In honor of this season’s homecoming game, a special event will take place at the hot dog stand that day: From 9 a.m. to noon, visitors can receive a hot dog, chips, cookie and a drink for $10, while also enjoying a live music performance by The Nifties. Tickets can be purchased online at northendzone.com.

Wall hopes the special event will be a big success.

“We’re in this because we definitely have a passion for what we do.”

Linsey Maughan is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com.