DETROIT
Homeless
50 YEARS AGO...
Continued from Page 1
Wave Of Horror
Through Europe
This column will be a week-
ly feature during The Jewish
News' anniversary year, look-
ing at The Jewish News of to-
day's date 50 years ago.
SY MANELLO
Copy Editor
A
s the war progressed
in Europe, reports of
the fate of Jews in
Nazi-held territories re-
minded of the extent of the
horrors. Several thousand
Jews were reported execut-
ed in the city of Jassy, Ru-
mania. More than 40,000
French children died on
roads and highways during
the evacuation of refugees.
The chief rabbi of Bessara-
bia, Rabbi Zielson was exe-
cuted.
Thousands of Jews at-
tended a rally in Madison
Square Garden in New York
to demonstrate against the
atrocities in Europe. Among
the speakers were Mayor
F.H. LaGuardia, Senator
Henry Cabot Lodge of Mass-
achusetts and Dr. Stephen
Wise of the American Jew-
ish Congress. Representa-
tives of the United Nations
adopted a declaration in
which the Jewish people af-
firmed their bond of unity
with Jews throughout the
world.
A trio of Detroit advertis-
ing executives earned na-
tional fame for sponsoring a
radio program in behalf of
the Treasury Department's
campaign to sell war bonds
and stamps. "The Bond
Wagon," brainchild of
Leonard N. Simons,
Lawrence J. Michelson and
Ivan Frankel, was the only
program of its kind to be
aired on all stations in a sin-
gle state.
Progress was noted by the
Jewish National Fund
Council of Detroit with the
report of a sum exceeding
$1,000 collected on Flower
Day, bringing the total
raised for the year to
14
FRIDAY, JULY 24, 1992
$27,000, greatly above last
year.
A group of Detroiters reg-
istered with the Wayne
County Clerk under the
name of Michigan Citizens'
Council; their purpose was
to encourage citizens to vote
on primary and election
days. Among the charter
members were Benjamin
Levinson, Ida Lippman and
Samuel Hechtman.
At a meeting of the De-
troit District of the Ameri-
can Federation of Polish
Jews, pledges were made to
support the campaign for
the collection of clothes for
Polish refugees in Russia.
National Young Israel, a
religious youth organization,
elected Abbe A. Levi, last
year's president of Detroit
Young Israel, as vice presi-
dent for the state.
The transfer of the Yeshi-
vath Chachmey Lublin to
Detroit was made possible
by a generous gift by Mr.
and Mrs. Samuel Bookstein.
The yeshivah was under the
direction of Rabbi Moshe
Rotenberg.
Several local young men
joined the war effort. Among
them were Pvt. Edward
Schwartz, recently induct-
ed; Pvt. Charles Steinberg,
recently graduated as an
airplane mechanic; and
P.F.C. Lloyd Edelstein, sta-
tioned at Camp Forest,
Tenn.
The engagement column
listed the following couples-
to-be: Muriel Geschelin and
Alexander Seskin; Jayne
Shapero and Jerome Op-
penheim; Pera Shapiro and
Irving Kane; Sylvia Eizel-
man and Harry Zemon.
If your listening to war
news was impossible on
your radio, it could be taken
for repairs to Dexter Radio
Co., and they would even
give you a loaner for free.
Meanwhile, Leon's Linen
Store on McNichols was of-
fering linen guest towels for
only thirty-five cents.
for a week. About 350 volun-
teers were assigned different
tasks through Sunday morning
when the guests will move on to
another emergency shelter
church.
At Oakland County church-
es where the SOS clients are ro-
tated each week, about 35
volunteers are needed. At
Temple Israel, there were over
10 volunteers for each guest.
Mr. Stewart pondered his mo-
tivations for volunteering. "To
me, this is an outreach to help
them help themselves. It
(homelessness) could happen to
anyone."
He glanced out at a large
parking lot full of the volunteers'
late-model cars, and turned
back to his chat with the secu-
rity guard, an off-duty West
Bloomfield policeman sitting be-
hind a desk.
Mr. Stewart talked about the
wealthy suburb of West
Bloomfield where he grew up.
"It's not quite real here" corn-
pared to the rest of the Detroit
area, he said. "This has got to be
a culture shock to them as well
as it is for us." He paused. "More
of a culture shock to them."
It was now twilight, and out-
side, Donna, one of the home-
less guests and young mother of
five children, was watching her
5-year-old girl and 7-year-old
boy play in the nursery area
used by temple kindergartners
during the day. Another one of
her children was inside, and two
others were with their father
elsewhere, Donna said.
Inside, Dr. Nancy Gad-Harfs
tired eyes told of her long day as
organizer of the volunteers. She
had been up since 5:15 a.m. As
Temple Israel's program direc-
tor, she discussed plans for the
following day with a handful of
volunteers.
The word was that Gary, or
the "guy with the new set of lug-
gage" as the volunteers referred
to him, had landed a job and
would not be returning this
night. Lillian Melville, director
of SOS, corrected the rumor.
Gary had already been working
and had secured a place to live.
Several volunteers smiled at
this new piece of information.
By all accounts, things at
Temple Israel's emergency shel-
ter were going smoothly. During
the night, Donna's 5-year-old be-
gan to cry and awoke other
guests. But the potential prob-
lem was remedied when Donna
and her children were given a
separate classroom where they
transferred their foam pad beds,
sheets and blankets.
Two other mothers, including
a woman and her 18-month-old
baby, and a young mother with
a boy about 10, slept in a class-
Sleeping arrangements in the social hall.
room with three other women.
Two of these women were preg-
nant. The men slept on foam
pads in the social hall.
There were complaints by
the guests, surprisingly enough,
about the food. Waiting on the
buffet table Sunday night was
spaghetti, garlic bread, Caesar
salad, lemonade, cakes, cookies
and brownies. Breakfast
Monday morning was juice, hot
and dry cereal, bagels, milk, tea
and coffee.
The bagels, literally hundreds
of them donated by the Bagel
Factory and Detroit Bagel, were
to be served every day for break-
fast. But the guests preferred
white toast.
The menu for the week was
printed in calligraphy on a large
poster hanging in the kitchen.
Myra Greenwald, who headed
the volunteer food effort, had
One of the
homeless guests
and young mother
of five children,
was watching her
5-year-old girl and
7-year-old boy play
in the nursery area
used by temple
kindergartners
during the day.
even enlisted the aid of her
brother, a microbiologist, for his
expertise in non-perishable
foods. A low-fat, high-protein
balanced food plan had been
worked out.
For lunch, a shift of volun-
teers had come in early Sunday
evening to prepare brown bags
of turkey sandwiches, fruit,
drinks, potato chips and cook-
ies. For Shabbat, the volunteers
planned baked chicken, broc-
coli and mushroom casserole,
salad, noodle kugel, challah and
cake.
But the guests preferred sug-
ar-coated cereal, as well as more
hot breakfasts, said Susan
Yorke, chairwoman of the tem-
ple's social action committee.
"They want hot food for break-
fast like pancakes and waffles
with syrup. We went from high;
fit, low-fat, to high-fat, low-fit,"
she said.
After dinner, many of the
guests remained in the social
hall, sitting around a giant tele-
vision screen. The video, one of
an assortment of movies, had
been lent by a temple member.
In an anteroom off the
kitchen, the night shift of six vol-
unteers gathered around a table 1
listening to Bob Dickman who
placed his hand-held two-way
radio on the table.
They would work in shifts )
with two volunteers awak:—
through the night, said Mr.
Dickman, a temple member _
who is working on establishing cl
a transitional house for the
homeless.
"We close the doors at 11
p.m.," Mr. Dickman said. "We
don't want people walking—
around after that. If they go out,
they've broken the rules and
they can't come back."
There was talk among the
volunteers about several Jewish
homeless guests. One of them -,
a young man named Bob, was__
said to be a former University
of Michigan student spotted by
one of the volunteers who had
gone to school with him.
Most of the personal stories
the homeless guests told were
undecipherable, due in some
cases to an unwillingness to dis-
cuss their situations. "They tell ` i
you what they think you want J
to hear," said Ms. Melville.
Many of the homeless have
some mental dysfunction, said
Ms. Melville. "It used to be we-f
locked them up in the attic.
Now, we don't lock them up. We
turn them loose in the streets." -
Clients using SOS for tem
porary shelter are restricted to
a total of 30 nights a year.
But Ms. Melville is hopeful
about most of her clients'
chances to climb out of the vi-
cious cycle of the streets.
Presently, SOS is experiencing:"
less than a 20 percent recidi-
vism rate: More than 80 per-
.