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GROSSE POINTE CITY — A Grosse Pointe City-based nonprofit is hoping to host gaming events to raise money to expand its work and the young people it serves.
James Doerer, of Grosse Pointe City, came before the Grosse Pointe City Council Dec. 15 to seek approval recognizing the nonprofit that he co-founded with two friends, Terrence Lane II and Miles Dearing, Doer Football Skills & Recruitment Camp. Although Doerer said the gaming events — bingo and poker nights — wouldn’t take place in Grosse Pointe City, because the nonprofit was based in the city, he needed council recognition to submit an application to the Michigan Gaming Control Board.
“The specific regulator of (these) events is the state,” City Attorney Chuck Kennedy said. “The state is looking for a soft endorsement from the council that this is an organization you believe is worthy.”
Kennedy said the city would incur no liability from recognizing Doer Football Skills & Recruitment Camp.
Doerer, a Grosse Pointe South High School graduate, said he and his fellow camp founders are former college and professional football players who organized their nonprofit to work with middle school and high school athletes to educate them about college enrollment, recruitment, likeness laws and more to better prepare them for college sports and life after football. They also work with student athletes to improve their football skills and build character through clinics and mentoring. The nonprofit’s tagline is, “Be more than football.”
“Our biggest goal is to give kids the blueprint to be successful … and show them the plethora of resources available (to them),” Doerer said.
There are registration fees for the camps; organizers said they try to keep the fees low so that more students can participate, and they offer scholarships and grants as well to students who otherwise couldn’t afford to attend. Doerer said participants hail from the Grosse Pointes, Detroit and other communities.
Donors and local businesses provide sponsorships, but the nonprofit is hoping to start hosting gaming events in 2026 to have a more reliable and larger revenue stream, as they want to build a community center for their programs in Detroit.
There are venues in cities such as Roseville and Dexter that host gaming events such as poker nights for various nonprofits, and Doerer said that they would be having their gaming fundraisers at one of these venues.
“It wouldn’t be held in Grosse Pointe at all,” Doerer said.
He said nonprofits can have up to four gaming fundraisers per year. The venues where these events take place have been operating for about 50 years, Doerer said.
Over the next three years or so, Doerer said, they’d like to have their own facility to offer the camps and create an after-school program and year-round activities for students.
The council voted unanimously in favor of recognizing Doer Football Skills & Recruitment Camp as a nonprofit based in Grosse Pointe City.
“Thank you very much, and good luck to you,” Mayor Sheila Tomkowiak told Doerer after he received council approval.
For more information about the camp and future fundraisers, visit doercamps.org.
