Have you ever been asked ì“what would you do with a million dollars?î”

For Goodwill Industries of Northern Michigan this was more than a party icebreaker question.

The Traverse City-based organization was invited to apply for a grant — 5 weeks later, they had it — $1.25 million.

Fortunes come fast in Big Tech — and we’re thrilled that this particular boon favors the fortunes of homeless families in our region.

Goodwill pledged to use it to invest in permanent housing for families, as the Goodwill Inn often has a wait for family housing.

“There will still be families who are homeless as a transition, but we want it to be brief, rare and not occur again,î said Dan Buron, executive director in a press statement.

Congratulations to the agency on a job well done; Goodwill is one of 32 nonprofits nationally to get a combined $98 million in grants.

This is the second year of the Bezos Day 1 Fund, an Amazon foundation project steered by CEO Jeff Bezos, one of the earth’s richest men.

The foundation is focused on funding existing nonprofits that help homeless families, and creating a network of new, nonprofit tier-one preschools in low-income communities, according to a press release.

We are glad to see it, as Big Tech, especially the giants that collect on mega-tax breaks, need to be a part of creating sustainable, healthy communities.

Our world changes; how we do almost everything has been tweaked by technology, from banking, shopping and eating, to how we get around and where we go.

A consolidated few companies control the vast majority of this market, including Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon, and this growth shows no signs of slowing.

We are glad that our homeless families will have more space, and hopefully shorter stays as a result of this one-time influx.

We applaud Goodwill for being a stand-out community player, and for acting quickly for our families’ best interest.

They got to ask the question “what would you do for $1.25 million?” and do it.

–Traverse City

Record-Eagle

Nov. 22