THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 60 Friday, July 2, 1982 Jewish Family Service Special Friends Program Aids Kids in Troubled Times Tam Bond Event Planned By BEVERLY WOLKIND Jewish Welfare Federation Shown beginning the planning for Tam-0- Shanter Country Club's annual fall dinner on behalf of Israel Bonds are, from left, standing: past dinner honorees Robert Willens and General William Weins- tein and, seated, Dave Muskovitz, Sam Rich and D. Dan Kahn. STRAIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE .. . may refuse to participate with the other person, al- though Mrs. Dombey says this has never hapened. At a recent workshop held in JFS offices, an enthusias- tic group of volunteers gathered to share their Spe- cial Friend experiences. There was a consensus that the adults are enjoying the program as much as the children. Most volunteers ay– young professiona. ) businesspeople or college students, although there is no age limit for the pro- There are many ways Special Friends in the JFS gram. The volunteers meet program show youngsters they care. Volunteer Tedd periodically with Mrs. Schneider and his buddy enjoy spending a quiet mo- Dombey and Mrs. Op- ment together. penheim, who are avail- ° able at' any time to an- swer questions and give encouragement. With the success the pro- gram is already achieving, o Mrs. Dombey hopes to ex- pand it as more volunteers are available. For informa- tion, contact her at the Jewish Family Service, • 559-1500. The first time Tedd Schneider took his special little friend to a Tiger baseball game, 9-year-old David had so many ques- tions that Tedd didn't see much of the game. But that's what being a "special friend" is all about. Tedd's experience with David (not his real name) is typical of volunteers in the Special Friends program of the Jewish Family Service. A member agency of the Jewish Welfare Federation, Jewish Family Service in- itiated the program more than two years ago to pro- vide much-needed adult companionship and direc- tion for children from trou- bled families. The program is directed by JFS social worker Judy Oppenheim and coordinator of volunteer services Fayga Dombey, with input from Paul Friedman, JFS casework supervisor. According to Mrs. Dombey, the children in the program "need someone special to call their own." Either they or their families are being counseled at Jewish Family Service and they are generally children who have problems de- At a recent JFS workshop, volunteer Ron Elkus, veloping relationships left, shared his enthusiasm for the program with because of family stress. Naomi Kupfer and casework supervisor Paul Fried- Many are from single- man. parent homes. * * * Friedman points out that A careful, professionally volunteer is asked to make a the current economic crisis has created greater family run screening process is commitment of two years to pressures; some children used to pair up a child with the program, during which may feel lonely or may be an adult Special Friend. Ini- he or she will spend time upset by distorted relation- tially, a parent, the school with the child once a week. ships at home. In some or JFS caseworker files a Male volunteers work with cases, there is a lack of what request for the child's par- "little , brothers," while Friedman calls boundaries ticipation. Mrs. Oppenheim women are paired With "lit- - or parental guidance when meets with the client and tle sisters." After the initial screen- parents are preoccupied caseworker to learn more ing, Mrs. Dombey and with their own problems. It about the needs. At the same time, Mrs. Mrs. Oppenheim com- is an adult Special Friend who can help relieve the Dombey interviews the pro- pare notes and arrange a burden on the parent and spective adult volunteer to meeting with the youngs- child by giving the youngs- explain the program and de- ter and his or her poten- ter the extra time and guid- termine what the volunteer tial Special Friend. Both hopes to gain from it. The understand that each ance he needs. Exam Switch for Observant NEW YORK — The State Department has agreed to facilitate. alternate test- date arrangements for Sab- bath observers interested in taking the annual Foreign Service written examina- tion, according to the Anti - Defamation League of Bnai Brith. Bible Contest NEW YORK — Two girls and three boys were an- nounced as the five winners in the 23rd annual National Bible Contest. The finalists — all high school students — were winners of local and regional contests. Ladino is a mixture of 15th Century Castillian Spanish and Hebrew. Cleveland Jewish Population Jr. Division Installs Officers Study Shows Big Decrease THE JEWISH NEWS TELLS IT UKE IT IS! SEND A GIFT SUBSCRIPTION TODAY! sim 1 To To: . The Jewish News 17515 W. 9 Mile Rd., Suite 865 1 Southfield, Mich. 48075 1 1 Please send a year's gift subscription to: 1 I NAME 1 ADDRESS 1 ZIP STATE 1 CITY 1 FOR state occasion if gift I FROM ❑ $15 enclosed go um so on mis so aim so No so No us NI MO MN IIMI in mil CLEVELAND (JTA) — The Jewish population of Cleveland is currently es- timated as 70,095, com- pared with an estimated population of 83,500 in 1970 and the number of Jewish children has been dropping sharply, according to a new survey of Cleveland's Jewish community. Data from the 1981 sur- vey were disclosed by Sally Wertheim, vice chairman of the Community Services Planning Committee, at a meeting of the Jewish Community Federation, the Cleveland Jewish News re- ported. The drop in the number of children was indicated by a count of 5,250 children six to 11 years of age, and a count of 4,713 from birth to five years of age. Mrs. Wertheim said the study refuted notions about the age distribu- tion of Cleveland Jews and about mobility of Cleveland Jews. She said the study revealed "a healthy number" of young adults and an ed- lerly population smaller than has been assumed. She said the data con- tradict the impression that Cleveland Jews leave in large numbers in search of balmier climates. The study found that job opportunity is far more important in such shifts. She noted that 31 percent of Jewish families with grown children do not have children living in Cleve- land. She said that, as those parents age and need more extensive social services, the unavailability of their children will be a vital fac- tor in planning for those ex- panded needs. Officers for the coming year were installed at the 44th annual meeting of the Jewish Welfare Federation Junior Division. Outgoing President James Deutch- man, left, turned over the president's gavel to James A. Safran.