The Inner City Christian Federation is bringing Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, of Memphis, to Grand Rapids to tell their story. The Tuohys are parents who adopted teenager Michael Oher, center, now playing in the NFL with the Baltimore Ravens. The family's story hit the national scene in the movie "The Blind Side" starring Sandra Bullock as Leigh Anne.GRAND RAPIDS -- People always ask Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy what it took for them to bring a homeless teen into their upper-class home.
Don't get Leigh Anne started.
"We're all risk takers, and we don't even know it," Leigh Anne said in her no-nonsense way. "Nobody checks the air pressure in their tires every morning before they leave the driveway. Nobody gets out of the car and shakes a bridge before they drive over it to see if it'll hold them.
"You need to open yourself up," she says firmly. "Stop analyzing things so much. Quit picking it apart and just do it."
Her husband, Sean, chuckles. They each have the same message, he notes, "but mine is like a mailed package, and hers is like an atom bomb."
The Memphis, Tenn., couple became famous after the 2009 movie "The Blind Side," starring Sandra Bullock as Leigh Anne and Tim McGraw as Sean. The Tuohys took in and later adopted homeless teen Michael Oher -- a move that changed all of their lives.
How do you do something like that?
Sean starts talking about popcorn.
IF YOU GO
Hear their story
What: Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, whose lives were portrayed in the movie, "The Blind Side," will speak at a fundraising dinner for the Inner City Christian Federation
When: Tuesday. Reception begins at 5:45 p.m., followed by dinner at 6:30 p.m. and the presentation, "Beyond Our Blind Side: An Extraordinary Journey," at 7:30 p.m.
Where DeVos Place
Tickets: $100. Please call Daryl Vogel no later than Friday at 336-9333 ext. 408 or e-mail dvogel@iccf.org.
"Think about a bunch of popcorn kernels in sizzling hot oil," he said in a phone interview. "They all have stress. You can't help every popcorn kernel, but chances are one will pop up and hit you in the face. There's probably a reason that one hit you in the face.
"There's no road map for this," said Sean, 50. "But if you come across people with needs and wants, turn around and look at them. Find out if you can make a difference."
The couple will speak Tuesday at a fundraiser for the Inner City Christian Federation, a Grand Rapids nonprofit that for 35 years has created homes for people unable to afford decent housing. They will talk about how they adopted Oher -- now 24 and a successful football player for the National Football League's Baltimore Ravens -- and how to find your own form of giving.
Bullock won an Academy Award for her portrayal of no-nonsense Leigh Anne, 50, a petite, fashionable woman who calls people "sweetheart." She also speaks her mind, carries a gun, and you don't want to mess with her.
Sean, a successful businessman who owns more than 70 restaurant franchises, started helping Michael in small ways -- buying his school lunches, slipping him 20 bucks. They invited him to hang out at their house. They soon fell in love with him and adopted him.
He was a kid everybody else looked right past, Sean says.
"When we met Michael, he was 60 days from falling through the cracks of society, maybe never to be heard from again," Sean says. "People valued him at zero.
"Now he's in the NFL," he says. "He's a top earner. People might think we made him smart, we made him talented. We didn't do any of that. He was already smart. He was already talented. All we did was give him a home and hope.
"People look at Michael and say he's the most obvious success story they've seen," Sean says. "If the most obvious success story can fall through the cracks, imagine who's left behind."
Look around, he urges.
"The person you just passed might be the one you can help," he said. "The person next to you in line at the movie theater. Turn around and look at them. That's the person who could change your life. It could happen in a heartbeat. It happened to us."
It starts, they say, by recognizing a fellow soul by the roadside as kindred, the Tuohys write in their new book, "In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving."
"Even," they write, "if he doesn't seem to belong in your gated community and, at 6-foot-5 and more than 300 pounds, is the biggest piece of popcorn you ever saw.
"It's about acknowledging that person's potential and value," Sean says. "It's about seeing him, instead of looking past him. Adopting a 16-year-old might not be in the cards for you. Give a coat to somebody who doesn't have one. Deliver a meal to somebody who's hungry. You can do something."
E-mail Terri Hamilton: thamilton@grpress.com