ANN ARBOR

Breakfast Run

Hadassah's annual Ann Arbor Lox Box means big revenue and
a major production line to deliver 600 Sunday morning meals.

MELANIE KOFF

Special to The Jewish News

ots of lox, bagels and
cartons of cream cheese
filled Beth Israel
Synagogue in Ann Arbor Nov.
4, as volunteers scrambled to
pack up 600 Sunday brunches
by the 8 a.m. deadline.
It was the 18th annual Lox
Box, a scrumptious Ann Ar-
bor tradition, that caused a
flurry of early-morning com-
motion. After the boxes were
packed and grouped into 24
routes, volunteer drivers and
runners arrived. Their goal:
to deliver the brunches by
noon.
"It seems hectic but it's
fun," said Julie Ellis, who
loaded 20 lox boxes into a sta-
tion wagon with her partner
Charlene Yudowin. "People
are really excited to receive
their boxes. What could be
better than having people
deliver Sunday brunch?"
The Lox Box is sponsored by
Ann Arbor Hadassah, with
proceeds going toward Youth
Aliyah and Young Judea.
Youth Aliyah serves disad-
vantaged Israeli youth and
children who have recently
immigrated to Israel. Young
Judea is an American
Hadassah youth program
which sponsors summer
camps, year-round clubs and
other youth activities. This
year's Lox Box event raised
$5,000 for these organi-
zations.
The traditional lox, bagels,
cream cheese and coffee cake
package was the most

Photos by Dan Rosen

L

popular seller. A health box,
which substituted lite cream
cheese and banana nut
muffins instead of coffee cake,
made up close to half of this
year's orders.
It is the second year the
health box has been offered.
Also available was a salami
box, with salami replacing
the lox.
Co-chairs of this year's fun-

draiser were Mercy Kasle and
Jayne Harary, who began
planning the event more than
six months ago. Many of the
Ann Arbor Hadassah's 400
members were involved in
organizing the Lox Box, and
about 80 volunteers began ar-
riving at the synagogue at 6
a.m. to help out as packers,
drivers and runners.
Assembling 600 brunches
called for 3,600 bagels
delivered fresh from Barry's
Bagels in Ann Arbor, and
50-plus 3 oz. packages of lox
which are picked up from a
seafood distributor in Detroit.
A $15 Lox Box provided
enough food for three or four
people.
"Up until a few years ago,
everybody had these diet
scales and we were weighing
the lox out ourselves. It was
very time consuming," said
Hadassah President Ronnie
Simon. "A few years ago we
went to the prepackaged."
Simon co-chaired the first
Lox Box with Miriam Brysk.
The first annual Lox Box was
a sizzling success, selling 500
boxes at $5 each. Recalled Ms.
Simon, "We packed all the

boxes in someone's living
room and piled them on the
porch to be picked up."
Ten years ago, the event
moved to Beth Israel Syna-
gogue, to better accommodate
the shipments of coffee cake,
muffins, salami and cream
cheese that arrive from area
supermarkets and distribu-
tors the Friday before the
event.

Left:
After packing 600 lox boxes,
Jenny Mosserry, Chava
Kopelman and Rose Silver
take a break.

Below:
Judy Lax, Trudy and Brett
Crandall prepare to make
deliveries.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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