I am so excited about my new primetime special.
It's airing tonight, tomorrow, and Thursday on NBC.
It's called Ellen's Greatest Night of Giveaways.
[APPLAUSE]
Oh, my God, you guys, it's so good.
And thanks to my friends at Green Dot Bank,
we get to help some incredible people.
And here's one of them.
Hi, Frank Gilmore.
How are you?
Hey, Ellen!
I love you!
I love you, too!
I'm going to talk about you like you're not here, OK?
All right, so Frank has an incredible story.
He completely turned his life around.
And when I told Michael B. Jordan about everything
that Frank did, he insisted on meeting him.
And this is what happened.
I'm in Jersey City, around the corner from Frank's community
center.
So we about to go surprise him.
I got a feeling he's really, really,
really going to be surprised about this,
and the reaction from the kids.
You know, that's what this is all about.
My name is Frank Gilmore.
And I'm the owner and founder of the Educational Gilmore
Community Learning Center.
I first went to state prison when I was 19 years old.
During my incarceration, my first child was born.
It kind of hit me full fledged.
Because I only had one promise to myself in his whole world,
I wasn't going to do what my dad did to me and not be there.
One of my teachers, Dr. Mim, she took a liking to me.
She asked me what I was doing in jail.
And I told her that I was in jail for selling drugs.
She was like, but you seem so smart to make
such dumb decisions.
That was actually the first time in my life someone
told me I was smart.
And it's like, wow, I need to not only get out of here,
do something to stay out when I get out.
And after that, I knew that I wanted
to give back to my community.
So it was extremely important for me
to open a community center.
And I just want to be that positive male role model.
When I was 16, I dropped out of school
and started going down the bad path.
And if it wasn't for Frank, I would probably
be in jail or dead right now.
Well, we got to talk about KD and Kyrie coming to Brooklyn.
Every team is worth watching.
On everything, word is bond.
Well, what I'm saying is that's a--
Hold up.
Frank, what's good, bro?
How you guys doing?
What's up, bro?
My--
Hold on, hold on, hold on!
Cause we was just talking about you.
And you walked in here?
Talk about who?
You!
Oh, man.
Listen, Ellen's a good friend of mine.
And I heard about your story, bro.
And I had to come out here and meet you, man. 'Cause
I'm from Brick City.
I'm from Newark, you know what I'm saying?
So I'm like-- yeah, yeah, yeah, [INAUDIBLE] So I understand.
I understand.
Wow, that's crazy.
Thanks a lot, man.
I really appreciate that, man.
So tell me about this spot?
It's a cool center.
Kids come here after school if they need help with homework.
So it's just a space for them to come here, and just get help,
and anything they need to get help with.
That's the dream, right, you know
what I'm saying, to be able to give back to the people
that you came from, you feel me?
So how much is the rent here?
The rent, oh, well, it just went up.
It was $1,575.
They went up to $1,650.
$1,600?
OK.
Well, you know, Ellen is very generous, man.
She definitely wants to take care of your rent
for two months.
Oh, man, wow.
OK, all right not two months.
The first year.
The whole year?
The whole year, bro.
She want to take care of the whole thing.
All right, I'm lying, first two years, bro, everything.
For two whole two years?
Two whole years.
Wow, man, that's crazy, man.
I ain't used to being emotional and everything.
Ah, man!
Nah, don't run from me, bro.
Hey, nah, nah, you can't run!
Ah, man, yo.
To have someone do that for me and the community center
is a true blessing.
Come here, man.
Come here, I got you, bro.
This is a huge burden lifted off my shoulders.
I got some surprises for you.
I'm going to shoot outside real quick and come back.
I was just so emotional.
That was my first time crying in front
of anyone of my mentee's and my I
couldn't believe this was happening to me.
Are you crying already?
I ain't even put the box down yet.
No, I'm just messing with you, bro.
So you know, this is Ellen's Greatest Night of Giveaways.
So this is just the beginning.
She just be giving away crazy stuff.
Just crack that open.
This is $50,000 right here.
So you're rent free for two years, brother.
And this is another $50,000 cash for you
to fix up whatever you need to do.
Because you deserve.
Because they deserve it, you know?
Yo!
I know it's a lot.
I know, bro.
You deserve it, though.
Yo, that's crazy.
Oh, man.
Goodness gracious, man.
I get it.
So, look, we got more stuff to kind of get through real quick.
So you want to take a walk?
Basically, this area right here, man, literally right here
on this corner, we sold drugs.
You name a drug, we sold it, weed, coke, dope.
There's so many people I hurt in this community.
So it's extremely important for me
to give back to this community, definitely.
So I hear this is your old high school?
Lincoln High School, man.
You used to hoop up here, too?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
No used to, I still do.
Let's go get this 505, then, bro.
Let's go get that.
[APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Oh, man, everyone who had a huge impact on my life
was there, my college professor, my wife, my family, my friends,
my co-workers.
You know, I just want this day to be here forever.
We decided to surprise Frank to just show him
that we're here for him and how much he means to us.
He doesn't really show a lot of emotion.
So when you see him showing emotion,
you know that it's been a good day.
I'm about to bounce a little bit and let y'all have this moment.
But before I do, why don't y'all just come with me?
Y'all, just follow me outside.
(SINGING) When I heard that sound--
Like I said, it's Ellen's Greatest Night of Giveaways.
And we heard that you were having some trouble
getting around the community and stuff and you needed a van.
Mm-hm.
So, you know.
All right.
Wait.
Wait!
When I heard that sound.
[APPLAUSE]
Now, you ain't got to worry about getting around
the community no more.
This is great, man.
This is beautiful right here, man.
And everyone that was integral, for them
to be here and see the reward, this is huge, right here.
[APPLAUSE]
Frank, I think you're awesome.
That's why we did all that for you.
And Green Got helped out tremendously with all this.
Michael B. Jordan, I love you so much.
You're my pal.
His movie, Just Mercy, comes out in select theaters
Christmas Day.
It's a fantastic movie.
Go see it.
[APPLAUSE]
All of the stories are so beautiful.
Each one of these people that we celebrate
for different reasons, it's so emotional, and so--
it was just the best thing that I think that we've
been a part of in a long time.
I hope you watch it.
It's called Greatest Night of Giveaways.
It premieres tonight at 8:00 on NBC, and tomorrow,
and then Thursday.
We'll be back.