Rapper Busta Rhymes and singer/producer Akon have joined former Universal/Motown label executive Shanti Das in raising money for her organization May WE Rest in Peace, a charity aiding Detroit residents with burial arrangements for their loved ones.
The nonprofit organization was launched this past October and has already raised $20,000 towards covering burials in Detroit, due in part to contributions from Busta, Akon, the Kid Rock Foundation and other charitable souls. Until recently, Detroit's morgue held 67 unclaimed bodies, some of whom had been there for almost five years, according to a CNN report. Shanti Das came across this information in October, which inspired her to begin working towards burying the unclaimed dead.
Though Das, like Akon and Busta, does not live in Detroit, she felt a bond with the community there. "What if it was my mother, father, or loved one lying there in the morgue and I couldn't afford to properly lay them to rest?" Das said. "There were just a lot of things that hit home for me, and I just wanted to immediately take action." Within the first weeks of her work, Das had already provided burials for six of Detroit's dead. The number of unclaimed bodies in Detroit's morgue now stands at 50.
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