THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, December 2, 1977 7
Volunteers Seen as Asset to Operation of Jewish Family Service
Myrna Techner drives her
gray Chrysler up to the
front entrance of an apart-
ment building on Nine Mile
Road. The autumn rain,
which has been pouring
steadily since early morn-
ing, slows to a drizzle as she
hops out to escort a waiting
woman into the car.
"How are you this morn-
ing, Lorraine?" she asks
cheerily. "I haven't seen
you in a long time." The car
starts, Myrna Techner's
busy Wednesday as a volun-
teer driver for the Jewish
Family Service has begun.
"We use volunteers as
drivers primarily to take
clients to the market. to
-iedical appointments or to
I relatives," said Fayga
umbey, director of volun-
teers for the JFS, a member
agency of the Jewish Wel-
fare Federation supported
by the Allied Jewish Cam-
paign-Israel Emergency
Fund.
"Our volunteers also visit
people in hospitals and nurs-
ing homes and take people
home from the hospital
when there's no one else to
do it. They make sure
there's food in the house
and see that the client is
settled in comfortably. Then
visiting nurses or homemak-
ers take over.
"In general, our volun-
teers do whatever a family
member would do for one of
their own."
En route to taking her
first client, a middle-aged
.woman, to an appointment
at a state rehabilitation cen-
ter in Royal Oak, Mrs.
Techner picks up an elderly
woman at Lincoln Towers.
After dropping her at her
doctor's office in Southfield
she continues to Royal Oak.
The two clients will be met
a few hours later by another
volunteer driver.
"Our clients are primarily
people without family or
whose families live else-
where," Mrs. Dombey said.
"Some have families here,
but their children may be
all working and unable to
drive them around during
the day.
JFS volunteer driver Rita Seidman, center, takes two
women from Jewish Federation Apartments to appoint-
ments elsewhere in the community.
"Many are elderly and
most aretliving on very lim-
ited incomes," she said.
"They can't afford taxis,
and now that the Jewish
community is so spread out
over the suburbs, the public
transportation system just
isn't convenient.
"In the case of the elderly
clients we try to help them
continue living independ-
ently as long as they can, to
postpone their having to go
into an institution."
The old woman walks
stiffly to the car with the
aid of a cane. "Thanks hon-
ey, you're a doll," she says
to Mrs. Techner. "You
know, I did this kind of work
myself for .50 years. I
worked for the old folks'
home, for Sinai Hospital—
plenty of work. And now I'm
sick myself.
"You know," she sighs,
"when you're strong you
think you'll be able_to do it
all your life."
Mrs. Dombey works with
close to 200 Jewish Family
Service volunteers. "About
125 of them are members of
various synagogue sister-
hoods who work in teams
visiting nursing homes.
Each sisterhood is assigned
to one of 14 homes," she
By Way of Conversation
good conversationalist. His
first name is Isaiah. It was
Are you a conversa- Isaiah who said, "For Zion's
sake, I shall not be silent."
tionalist?
Zionists never have and,
John Cory, in the New
York Times, writing of con- by the way, if you asked
versationalists says some Prof. Berlin to name the
people think that the world's greatest conversationalist I
best conversationalist is think his answer would be
Prof. Isaiah Berlin of Ox- Dr. Chaim Weizmann. He is
a great admirer of the Zion-
ford University.
ist leader.
Oxford, of course, has
It was a conversation of
long been associated with
Weizmann with Lord Bal-
conversation and if Prof.
four which of course- led to
Berlin is the best there, he
must be the top one in the the Balfour Declaration.
"Dr. Weizmann," said
world.
Balfour, "why should a man
They used to say that at
like you want an old deso-
`\--..)xford, the teachers don't
care if the students fail to late city like Jerusalem?"
"Lord Balfour," replied
attend classes but if they
don't come to the dinners Weizmann, "why do you
English want London?"
they are flunked. It was in
"Oh," returned Balfour,
the talk at the dinners that
the student was expected to
"we have had London for a
absorb that attitude and
long time."
quality which distinguished
"Jews had Jerusalem
the Oxford man from the
when London was no more
graduates of other in- than a swamp," said Weiz-
mann.
stitutions. Culture seems to
This little drip of conver-
come also in the little drips.
There is another reason sation started the new Is-
why Prof. Berlin must be a
rael.
atiii*41}34 ;i
-
BY DAVID SCHWARTZ
(Copyright 1977, JTA; Inc.)
said. "They visit the Jewish
patients and try to do some
Jewish programming there.
"We have 30 or 40 volun-
teer drivers, like Myrna.
Our only paid driver is a
young Russian fellow, Yaa-
kov Feldman, who works
mostly with Russian immi-
grants and handicapped
persons who require more
help.
"About 10 volunteers do
clerical work here in the
office, which includes set-
ting up appointments for
people who need rides. And
we have about 20 volunteers
who work as translators,"
she said.
"I usually have contact
with about 10 drivers a day.
Between them they handle
about 30 clients. We serve at
least 500 persons throughout
the year."
Mrs. Techner picks up
two women in Southfield
who are going to visit their
husbands in nursing homes
in Detroit. They try to go at
lunchtime because, they
say, the men don't eat prop-
erly unless they are there.
"Mrs. B. goes to visit 'her
Charlie' every day at the
hoMe," Mrs. Techner said.
"She's 85 years old and she
won't miss a day. In the
snow and freezing weather
we had last winter we all
urged her to stay home a
day, but she wouldn't. And
if for some reason we can't
give her a ride she takes
three buses to get there."
Mrs. B. gets into the car
and tells her troubles to
Mrs. Techner. "Ach, I've
had a hard life," she con-
cludes in Russian-accented
English. "But you make my
life better. If I could do the
same, to help someone, be-
lieve me I would."
Mrs. Dombey's volunteers
are mostly women in their
40s and 50s, but among
those she can count on are
18 men, mainly retirees.
The oldest is 72.
"Volunteers are usually
people who want one-to-one
contact with another human
being, - she said. "How
much they do depends on
the individual. Some give
two days a week, some give
half a day a month. We'll
work with them within any
time slot they'll give us."
After the nursing home
stops, Mrs. Techner picks
up two women who have
medical appointments at
the Sinai Hospital Profes-
sional Building. One is a
Russian immigrant who
speaks no English. The oth-
er is a retired social work-
er. They chat together in
Yiddish.
Mrs. Techner was looking
for some meaningful volun-
teer work when she re-
turned to Detroit two years
ago after living four years
in Toronto. Her daughter
was married, her older son
remained in Toronto; only
her younger son, a student
at Birmingham Groves
High School, was still at
home.
"I had driven past the
Jewish Family Service
building several times, and
one day I just walked in and
said, 'Here I am, I'm 41
years old, I want to do
something.' Fayga prac-
tically embraced me," she
laughed.
Now, besides devoting
Wednesday to JFS, Mrs.
Techner works one day for
Meals-on-Wheels, a pro-
gram operated jointly by
the Jewish Family Service
and the National Council of
Jewish Women, She also
works with students, testing
them for reading dis-
abilities, in the Farmington
public schools.
Before returning to the
nursing home to pick up
Mrs. B., Mrs. Techner
drives to Borman Hall, the
Jewish Home for Aged, to
take 97-year old Mr. W. to
visit his handicapped daugh-
ter. She is running about a
half-hour late. The sun is
breaking through the clouds
as she helps Mr. W., who
can hardly walk, from his
wheelchair into the car.
"I thought you weren't
coming because of the
rain," he says, in a thinly-
veiled complaint at her tar-
diness.
"Oh no," she replies firm-
ly. "We may be a little late,
but we'll always show up,
don't you worry."
When Mrs. Techner pulls
up to the JFS building at the
end of - her route she has
.0•
.0"
been on the road more than
five hours. An apple and a
handful of crackers have
sustained her; there was no
time for a lunch break.
"When I get home after a
day of driving I'm really
exhausted," she said. "Ac-
tually the driving is the easy
part, it's the listening that's
hard. You have to listen to
everything they say, and
you have to be so sensitive,
so careful.
"Whenever clients say
anything negative, and a lot
of them have some pretty
bitter feelings, I try to turn
it into something positive. I
like to think I'm helping
them that way, too.
"I know volunteer work is
helping the clients," she
added. "But it's also helpful
and gratifying to the volun-
teer. It's not a chore for me.
It's something I enjoy
doing."
* *
JFS Schedules Volunteer Program
Members of the general
public as well as new and.
veteran volunteers are wel-
come to attend the Jewish
Family Service's 10th an-
nual Volunteer Institute 9:30
a.m. Tuesday, in the audito-
rium of United Hebre
Schools.
The institute will give vol-
unteers an opportunity to
share their experiences and
to acquire additional skills
and information about the
volunteer program, said
JFS volunteer director
Fayga Dombey.
Several volunteers will
present a skit, titled "Per-
son to Person"- a discussion
will follow. There is no
charge for the insitute.
For information, contact
Mrs. Dombey at the Jewish
Family Service, 559-1500.
Jewish Family Service volunteer Gerri Barr, right, helps
Clara Barenholtz, assistant coordinator for volunteers
services, in taking information from clients seeking aid.
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