The Season Finale of ABC's "Secret Millionaire" And Ali Brown

The season finale of ABC's "Secret Millionaire" aired last night to 9.1 million viewers according to the Nielsen ratings. Ali Brown is our last "Secret Millionaire" and a very compassionate one at that. Actually, all of the "Secret Millionaires" have been very compassionate and all have said that being a "Secret Millionaire" has been an eye opener for them.

Ali Brown is an entrepreneur and a multimillionaire. Ali lives in a luxurious home in Marina Del Rey on the coast of California. About eleven years ago, she offered writing services to businesses and over time created Ali International, a multi-million dollar business. This week's "Secret Millionaire" offers training courses for entrepreneurs where she helps others run successful businesses.

On this episode of "Secret Millionaire", Ali is dashed away in a taxi to her secret location. She's very surprised and I think a little disappointed when she realizes that she's only 2 miles from her luxury home in Venice, California.

Venice, California has hundreds of homeless people including a high number of homeless youths in the state of California. Ali is given just $55.25 to live on for the week which is the equivalent of what a single person living on welfare receives in Venice.

Harvest Home

As our "Secret Millionaire" is out walking the streets looking to volunteer, she comes upon the Harvest Home. Ali meets Jennifer Jenson who is the founder of Harvest Home. "Jen" explains to Ali that Harvest Home is a safe haven for pregnant homeless women. These women are taught responsibility and work skills while staying at Harvest Home. Harvest Home can only house 8 women at one time.

Ali meets the women and their infants and talks to them about their situations. Most have been abandoned by their families after getting pregnant without being married. This strikes a chord with Ali because she has always had the support of her parents and can't imagine life without that support.

On Ali Brown's last day as the "Secret Millionaire", she reveals to Jen and Harvest Home who she is and lets them know they've made a big impression on her. Ali donates $50,000 to Harvest Home. While Jen is tearfully catching her breath and crying, she tells viewers, "Someone out there really cares about what we're doing." Jen believes that people really do want to help others in need.

For more information on the Harvest Home, contact them at 310 452-1223 or email Jen at jjenson@theharvesthome.net .

Bread & Roses at St. Joseph's

The next organization that our "Secret Millionaire" visits is a little restaurant called Bread and Roses at St. Joseph's. This cafe serves the homeless in a restaurant where they can make reservations and enjoy a meal. Ali meets Tiana who is the Volunteer Coordinator and learns that Bread and Roses serves about 150 homeless people a day.

Why the name Bread and Roses, you ask? Bread is for the food that is served and Roses is for dignity. Homeless people are still people and why shouldn't they have a restaurant that they can go to?

Ali volunteers and she helps cook and waitress. She admits that she doesn't do much cooking and has never been a waitress so this is very challenging for her. We see Ali taking orders and trying to remember which table ordered what. She manages and begins chatting with customers. She sees how grateful the homeless are for a good nutritional meal and a place to eat.

The "Secret Millionaire" visits Bread and Roses again to reveal her identity and present Tiana with a check for $10,000. Tiana is very grateful as she tells Ali that this donation will go a long way in helping the restaurant.

Common Ground

Common Ground offers food, medical supplies, and counseling to Venice's homeless youths. Ali volunteers to help pass out food and offer assistance to the many homeless youths in one of Venice's parks. Ali invites the youths to visit the Common Ground House where they can receive more free food, counseling, and teeth cleaning.

Ali sits with Dre at the park, who's one of the Common Ground volunteers and learns his story. Dre is a former drug addict including meth. He tells of a bad home life where he tried to commit suicide at age 8. He left home and turned to drugs because they helped him escape. He met a woman at Common Ground who helped him out and now he's clean and helping others. There's a feeling that not to many people care about homeless kids. The "Secret Millionaire" is very quiet and I think shocked to hear his story.

When Ali returns to Common Ground, she first tells them how much she supports their organization and then she gives them a check for $30,000. Ali wants the homeless kids to know that someone does care about them. Through Common Ground, Ali's donation can help many homeless youths and that's exactly what Ali wants to happen.

If you'd like to help Common Ground, please contact Sharon Chamberlain at 310 314-5480 or send an email to her at schamberlain@commongroundhiv.org.

Beauty Bus

One thing that ABC's "Secret Millionaire" shows us, is the creative efforts of some of the nonprofit organizations in the show. This organization is one of those creative nonprofits. The Beauty Bus helps chronically and terminally ill people feel good by making home visits to give them a manicure, pedicure, haircut, or facial. Their caretaker also gets a free service.

Beauty Bus is the brainstorm of two cousins. One of the ladies lost her sister at a young age. Before the sister died, she loved doing all the girly things like manicures, facials, and pedicures. The cousins got together to bring these "feel good" services to patients in the area.

Ali goes with them on a home visit where she meets Harry who is terminally ill and his niece. They both get manicures as Ali chats with them. Last night's show was dedicated to Harry who unfortunately, passed away from ALS.

On Ali's last day in Venice, she returns to the Beauty Bus and reveals her secret millionaire identity. Through laughter and tears, Ali makes a donation of $10,000 to the Beauty Bus.

To learn more about the Beauty Bus or to send a donation, please call them at 310 287-1272 or email Jaclyn Rosenson at beauty@beautybus.org.

Ali brown feels that she has lot touch with the real world and this experience has opened her eyes. She says that for her, this is just the beginning.

I'm hoping that ABC will continue "Secret Millionaire" again next season. This is a very inspiring program that shows how one individual can make a difference whether it's by monetary donations or volunteering.

Sources: ABC's "Secret Millionaire"; April 10, 2011
The Futon Critic