Ten years have passed since Delrhonda Hood’s promise to God.
Having made a name for herself in Detroit’s drug game, and having become a legend in the process, her reign in the streets hit a brick wall: In prison for the third time after a 2012 conviction, she contracted an MRSA infection. Combined with another chronic health issue and unsanitary conditions at the facility, the illness nearly killed her, Hood says.
She got her hands on a bible.
“I was asking God: I said, ‘If you get me out of this I’ll never go back to the streets,’” she recalls. “I was killing people. You don’t think of drugs that way at the time — killing people. It’s the money you think about.”
Hood, still known to many as “Big Fifty,” not only lived to tell the story of her new direction; she has followed it since her release from prison in 2015. A major part of her mission has involved the 2020 launch of The Godmother’s Touch, a non-profit organization designed to support and enrich Detroit’s youth through programming like a Sunday, Feb. 15 screening of Goat at the Emagine Royal Oak theater. The free event follows a panel discussion about substance abuse, prison, and mental health, all of which have become focal points of concern for the one-time “godmother” of Detroit streets.
“I always think about my family and kids,” says Hood, whose life was the subject of a 2021 BET movie. “I just didn’t want them out there doing things to get themselves in trouble.”
While she says much of the millions she earned from criminal operations paid her children’s private school tuition and other expenses meant to protect them from the perils of life, a low point was when she got arrested on the day of her daughter’s prom. Goat, an animated film produced by NBA superstar Steph Curry, tells the story of a young, athletic caprine in need of confidence and the kind of support Hood says Detroit’s youth need now more than ever.
About 130 children and their families are expected to attend the Goat screening, which includes free pizza, beverages, and gift bags provided by The Godmother’s Touch. The panel discussion will feature a gun violence survivor and a youth advocate who spent 60 years in prison, among others.
The program and screening are the result of a major financial contribution by an unnamed supporter of The Godmother’s Touch, Hood says. From Halloween celebrations to Christmas toy giveaways, and other efforts, most of the organization’s programming has been self-funded, she adds.
“Someone believed in my dreams,” she says. “They watched me for years, coming out of my own pocket. They decided to say, ‘We’re gonna get her some help.’”
Tamara Reason, Hood’s long-time friend and a board member of the organization, says Hood’s support is well-deserved.
“Even when she was hustling in the streets she was always trying to help the people,” Reason recalls. “I wanted to get involved, too.”
Along with event programming, which Reason says will ramp up with prom dress giveaways, a Mother’s Day celebration, and more in the coming months, Hood speaks to students at local schools.
Again, she references the return home from her last prison stint as a turning point.
“All the other times, I had a rush from feeling like I beat the police,” she says. “‘I got their ass again!’ That’s the kind of stuff I was thinking.”
But these days, Hood says, her greater rush comes from setting goals like a health awareness event and distributing 1,000 nebulizer machines for asthmatic children. For 2026 event announcements, she asks that youth, families and potential volunteers visit thegodmotherstouch.com or @therealbigfifty at Instagram.
“I feel really, really good because I don’t have to be looking out my window all the damn time, having these crazy cop dreams!” she says. “People don’t understand when you’re involved in that, they see you looking good… but they don’t know you’re always looking around to see if somebody’s following you. Oh, my God!
“I am so free from all that. I really feel bad for people who are still part of that life.”
