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- .